Business Wire India Bharat Biotech today announced that the World Health Organization (WHO Geneva) has awarded prequalification to the developing world’s first rotavirus vaccine, ROTAVAC ® . WHO Prequalification is necessary for UN agencies and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance to purchase the vaccine in partnership with developing countries and will help accelerate availability of the ROTAVAC ® to the developing countries with the highest burden of disease. India has introduced ROTAVAC ® into its national immunization program during 2016, with ~ 35 million doses delivered till date. Rotavirus is the leading cause of severe diarrhea among children less than five years of age around the world, resulting in ~215,000 deaths and 2 million hospitalizations. Vaccinations are an important part of global public health efforts to meet the Sustainable Developmental Goals of UNDP.“We are highly honored and delighted to become the first rotavirus vaccine from the developing world and India to be WHO Prequalified. We feel proud to dedicate this innovated in India and Made in India vaccine to the world. The true impact of vaccines can be seen, when vaccinations are carried out in affected populations. The Government of India has given a big boost by making®available to millions in India already." said Dr. Krishna Ella, Chairman and Managing Director of Bharat Biotech.®®® “The novel team science partnership that developed this vaccine serves as a useful model for others to follow”, said Dr. Roger I. Glass, Director of the Fogarty International Center at the U.S. National Institutes of Health, who helped shepherd the process. “The result is an effective, yet economical, vaccine that has the potential to save thousands of children’s lives in Africa and elsewhere.” According to him, Rotavirus is responsible for an estimated 36% of hospitalizations for childhood diarrhea around the world and for an estimated 200,000 deaths in low and middle-income countries.®®“India’s leadership in developing and introducing its own rotavirus vaccine is commendable and emphasizes a national commitment to improving the health of their children,” said Duncan Steele, deputy director on the Enteric Diarrheal Diseases team at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “The advent of a locally manufactured, WHO prequalified rotavirus vaccine offers promise to protect children in India, Africa, the Americas and the rest of Asia from this debilitating disease.”®®3
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