ZURICH (Reuters) – The World Health Organization on Thursday released a list of Pfizer and BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines for emergency use, in a move that sought to accelerate access in the developing world.
The United Nations health agency said it would work with regional partners to inform national health authorities about the two-dose picture and the expected benefits.
The WHO established the emergency use listing (EUL) process to help poor countries without their own regulatory resources quickly allow new medicines such as COVID-19, which could otherwise be delayed.
A WHO study found that the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine met the “essential” criteria for safety and efficacy benefits outweighing its risks.
“This is a very positive step towards ensuring global access to COVID-19 vaccines,” said Mariangela Simao, director of the WHO’s medicines access program.
“But I want to emphasize the need for an even greater global effort to achieve adequate vaccine supply to meet the needs of priority populations everywhere.”
The DA health agency, together with the GAVI Vaccine Alliance and the Confederation for Epidemic Preparation Innovation (CEPI), is leading a global effort called COVAX to secure and distribute vaccines to poor countries, to ensure that shots only go to rich countries.
The COVAX alliance has agreements with WHO support for nearly 2 billion doses, with the first delivery due in early 2021. The alliance has been in talks with Pfizer and BioNTech for a vaccine.
Nevertheless, challenging Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine storage and delivery requirements, including maintaining it at 70 degrees Celsius, have made delivery challenging in western countries, and could pose barriers give more to developing countries without adequate infrastructure.
The vaccine has received regulatory support from the United Kingdom, the European Medicines Agency, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Health Canada, Bahrain, Israel, Kuwait, Mexico, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Singapore.
The Pfizer messenger RNA vaccine and BioNTech were found to be 95% effective after two doses 21 days apart.
Reporting by John Miller; Edited by Dan Grebler