There are several COVID-19 vaccines validated for use by WHO (given Emergency Use Listing). The first mass vaccination programme started in early December 2020 and the number of vaccination doses administered is updated on a daily basis on the COVID-19 dashboard.
The WHO Emergency Use Listing process determines whether a product can be recommended for use based on all the available data on safety and efficacy and on its suitability in low- and middle-income countries. Vaccines are assessed to ensure they meet acceptable standards of quality, safety and efficacy using clinical trial data, manufacturing and quality control processes. The assessment weighs the threat posed by the emergency as well as the benefit that would accrue from the use of the product against any potential risks.
In line with their national regulations and legislation, countries have the autonomy to issue emergency use authorizations for any health product. Domestic emergency use authorizations are issued at the discretion of countries and not subject to WHO approval.
As of 12 January 2022, the following vaccines have obtained EUL:
- The Pfizer/BioNTech Comirnaty vaccine, 31 December 2020.
- The SII/COVISHIELD and AstraZeneca/AZD1222 vaccines, 16 February 2021.
- The Janssen/Ad26.COV 2.S vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson, 12 March 2021.
- The Moderna COVID-19 vaccine (mRNA 1273), 30 April 2021.
- The Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine, 7 May 2021.
- The Sinovac-CoronaVac vaccine, 1 June 2021.
- The Bharat Biotech BBV152 COVAXIN vaccine, 3 November 2021.
- The Covovax (NVX-CoV2373) vaccine, 17 December 2021.
- The Nuvaxovid (NVX-CoV2373) vaccine, 20 December 2021.
Scientists around the world are continuing to develop many potential vaccines for COVID-19. These vaccines are all designed to teach the body’s immune system to safely recognize and block the virus that causes COVID-19.
Several different types of potential vaccines for COVID-19 have been developed, including:
- Inactivated or weakened virus vaccines, which use a form of the virus that has been inactivated or weakened so it doesn’t cause disease but still generates an immune response.
- Protein-based vaccines, which use harmless fragments of proteins or protein shells that mimic the COVID-19 virus to safely generate an immune response.
- Viral vector vaccines, which use a safe virus that cannot cause disease but serves as a platform to produce coronavirus proteins to generate an immune response.
- RNA and DNA vaccines, a cutting-edge approach that uses genetically engineered RNA or DNA to generate a protein that itself safely prompts an immune response.
The COVID-19 vaccines with WHO Emergency Use Listing (EUL) provide different levels of protection to infection, mild disease, severe disease, hospitalization and death. Research is ongoing by thousands of scientists around the world to better understand how new virus mutations and variants affect the effectiveness of the different COVID-19 vaccines.
In general, the COVID-19 vaccines are very effective at preventing serious illness, hospitalization and death from all current virus variants. They are less effective at protecting you against infection and mild disease than they were for earlier virus variants; but if you do get ill after being vaccinated, your symptoms are more likely to be mild.
Remember that while the COVID-19 vaccines authorised by WHO are incredibly effective at reducing your risk of developing serious illness and death, no vaccine is 100% effective. A small percentage of people will still get ill from COVID-19 even though they have been vaccinated. Currently there is limited information about the risk of vaccinated people passing the virus to others if they are infected. This makes it very important to continue to practice public health and social measures, even after you have been fully vaccinated.
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