A World Health Organisation (WHO) committee urged Covid-19 vaccine manufacturers to provide it with the data it requires in order to list their shots for emergency use, saying the delays were affecting equitable vaccine access, Reuters reports.

An emergency use listing with the UN agency means shots can be shipped to multiple developing nations that rely on WHO guidance for their regulatory decisions. It also allows them to be used by the COVAX vaccine-sharing programme that aims to ramp up vaccinations in poorer countries.

“The committee recognised the challenges posed by some manufacturers delayed submission of vaccine data to WHO,” its emergency committee said in a statement, urging vaccine producers to supply the data as soon as possible.