Allow COVAXIN to get in the game: Tennis star Connors urges US to approve India's indigenously-developed COVID vaccine
Dec 31, 2021
Washinton [US], December 31 : As the US continues to register a record number of COVID-19 cases, American tennis legend Jimmy Connors has called on the Biden government and country's regulatory authority to recognise India's indigenously developed coronavirus vaccine COVAXIN for its vaccination programme.
Taking to Twitter, the tennis legend asked the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to "allow COVAXIN to get in the game".
"You always talk about Pfizer- J&J- Moderna vaccines -- may be a nod to Covaxin - ocgn - an opportunity to have an option - a choice- allow COVAXIN to get in the game-- I'm no Dr.- but the others have had a chance- why not #COVAXIN," Connors tweeted.
Last month, the World Health Organisation (WHO) had granted approval for Emergency Use Listing (EUL) for Covaxin.
The WHO said that the Technical Advisory Group, convened by WHO, had determined that the Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech's COVID-19 vaccine meets WHO standards for protection against COVID-19.
This appeal by the American tennis star comes as the US has been witnessing a significant rise in COVID-19 cases due to the emergence new coronavirus variant Omicron.
On Tuesday, the US set a single-day record of new infections, with 441,278 COVID-19 cases.
Record number of cases has led to the cancellation of thousands of inbound and outbound flights.
On Thursday, the Federal Aviation Administration warned that US travellers can expect more flights to be cancelled as the Omicron variant continues to surge across the country.
