On Friday (December 31), former Tennis player Jimmy Connors made an appeal to allow India’s indigenous Covid-19 vaccine ‘Covaxin’ in the United States. Connors is the former No.1 who has won 107 titles, 8 grand slams between 1972 to 1996.
In a tweet, he wrote, “CNN, Fox News, FDA – You always talk about Pfizer, J&J, Moderna vaccines – may be a nod to Covaxin. #ocgn – an opportunity to have an option- a choice- allow Covaxin to get in the game – I’m not Dr but the others have had a chance – why not Covaxin!!!”
Jimmy Connors has been a strong advocate for the inclusion of Covaxin in the list of approved vaccines by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States. On December 17, the American tennis star remarked that there was no talk of India’s indigenous vaccine, despite being better than the other alternatives in the market.
A few days later, he tweeted, “There is another vaccine #covaxin that is available— gives people another option – should check it out- #Fauci #fda #variants I’m no Doctor— but always like to keep my options open- #choices.” Connors had made a similar appeal on the occasion of Christmas (December 25) as well.
Covaxin approval by WHO, UK and DGCI and a smear campaign
Covaxin is an indigenous COVID-19 vaccine that is developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with ICMR, and the National Institute of Virology (NIV). According to the website of Bharat Biotech, Covaxin has been developed using “Whole-Virion Inactivated Vero Cell-derived platform technology”. Despite smear vaccine to deride India’s achievement and stir vaccine hesitancy, about 15.59 crores of Covaxin have been administered as of December 31, 2021.
The World Health Organization (WHO) on November 3 granted the Emergency Use Listing status to Covaxin after the Technical Advisory Group of WHO recommended the same. In a tweet thread, WHO said the Technical Advisory Group (TAG), an independent advisory committee of the World Health Organisation (WHO), has recommended Emergency Use Listing (EUL) status for Covaxin, the Covid-19 vaccine manufactured by India’s Bharat Biotech.
On November 22, the United Kingdom recognised India’s indigenous Coronavirus vaccine Covaxin as valid in the country. In a statement released by the UK government, it said, “From 4 am on Monday 22 November, the government will recognise vaccines on the World Health Organization’s Emergency Use Listing (WHO EUL). As a result, Sinovac, Sinopharm Beijing and Covaxin will be added to our list of approved vaccines for inbound travel, benefitting more fully vaccinated people from countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia and India.”
Recently, the Drugs Controller General of India had approved the Covid vaccine Covaxin for minors aged 12 to 18. According to reports, DCGI had granted emergency use approval for Bharat Biotech to use the made-in-India vaccine to people in the age group 12 years to 18 years.
