PM Narendra Modi had pushed for emergency use listing of Covaxin with the World Health Organisation (WHO) when he met its director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on the sidelines of the G20 summit, sources said.

In his address at G20 too, Modi had said that India is ready to produce over 5 billion Covid vaccine doses by the end of next year to help the world in its fight against the pandemic. He had said it was necessary that the WHO approves Indian vaccines at the earliest.

The emergency use listing (EUL) of Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin with the UN agency was pending for almost 90-100 days after the company submitted its expression of interest to WHO in April and started rolling submission of data since July. Despite over 12 crore doses of Covaxin administered in the country, even those inoculated with two doses of the jab were unable to travel abroad in the absence of the WHO’s recognition of the vaccine.

(With inputs from agencies)