Do COVID-19 vaccines need WHO approval before they can be used?

PAHO/WHO recommends strengthening the vaccination registration system to maintain control over the type of vaccine each person receives, as well as requiring vaccinated persons to keep their vaccination card.

It is not the responsibility of the World Health Organization to authorize the extensive use of COVID-19 vaccines in a particular country, the World Health Organization explains on its website when answering frequently asked questions about the authorization by this international entity for emergency use.

In order for COVID-19 vaccines to be included in the WHO’s List for Emergency Use, their quality, safety and efficacy are evaluated. This is a requirement for vaccines made available through the Covax Mechanism and helps countries accelerate their regulatory mandate to import and administer COVID-19 vaccines,” says WHO.

However, countries and national regulatory authorities may agree to use vaccines that have been shown to be safe and effective in preventing disease, even though they are not on the WHO’s list for emergency use, they said.

They add that the safety of vaccines is one of the highest priorities, which is why they all go through stages of clinical study before being approved for use in the population. These trials are intended to ensure your safety and ability to protect against disease.

Likewise, the PAHO encourages the use of safe and effective vaccines as a preventive tool to help keep the population healthy, but “neither the PAHO nor the World Health Organization has recommended that vaccination against COVID-19 be mandatory in any country,” they assert.

In addition, they explain that different vaccines against COVID-19 can be used in the same country. In fact – explains the World Health Organization – it is very likely that a country will have to use vaccines from different platforms or producers.

For this reason, PAHO/WHO recommends strengthening the vaccination registration system to maintain control over the type of vaccine each person receives, as well as requiring vaccinated persons to keep their vaccination card.