A day after India formally requested European Union member states to include both COVISHIELD and COVAXIN in their exemption list for the passport, eight EU countries have recognised the Serum Institute-manufactured Oxford-Astrazeneca vaccine as proof for travel.
Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Slovenia, Greece, Iceland, Ireland and Spain are the seven EU member countries that accepted COVISHIELD vaccine on Thursday.
Questions about travel to Europe by Indians who have received the Covishield jab, which is the version of the AstraZeneca vaccine made by Serum Institute of India, have arisen since the vaccine has not yet been approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA). Only four vaccines — Comirnaty of Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, Vaxzervria by AstraZeneca-Oxford and, Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen — have been approved by the EMA. Only those inoculated with these vaccines will be given vaccination passports and allowed to travel within the EU during the pandemic.
The Centre on Wednesday had said that the failure to include Covishield and Covaxin will force India to implement mandatory quarantine rules for EU citizens. Urging the member states to accept vaccination certificates issued through the CoWIN portal, Indian authorities had said that ‘the genuineness of such vaccination certification can be authenticated through CoWIN’.
However, travel between India and Europe remains tightly restricted. Of the eight countries, India has an air bubble arrangement only with Germany, which has emerged as a key transit hub for Indian nationals travelling to Europe.
The green pass framework, being implemented from July 1, is meant to facilitate free movement within the EU during the pandemic. Under this framework, persons vaccinated with four vaccines approved by the EMA will be exempted from travel restrictions within the EU.
