Confusion continues over UK's travel advisory nod to Covishield

There is still confusion over the United Kingdom's vaccine recognition process for Indian travellers.

There is still confusion over the United Kingdom's vaccine recognition process for Indian travellers. Even though UK's new travel rules state that AstraZeneca Covishield is among vaccines that qualify as approved, India is not yet on the list of 17 countries mentioned.

The 'changes to international travel rules' state that formulations of the four listed vaccines, such as AstraZeneca Covishield, AstraZeneca Vaxzevria and Moderna Takeda, qualify as approved vaccines. Travellers will also qualify as fully vaccinated if they have taken full course of the Oxford/AstraZeneca, Pfizer BioNTech, Moderna or Janssen vaccines from a relevant public health body in Australia, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Bahrain, Brunei, Canada, Dominica, Israel, Japan, Kuwait, Malaysia, New Zealand, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan or the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Covishield, which has been developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca, is manufactured by Pune-based Serum Institute of India. India had said on Tuesday that it will be within its rights to take reciprocal measures against UK's "discriminatory" move to recognise AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine but not Covishield if the issue is not satisfactorily resolved.

Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla told media persons on Tuesday that External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had raised the issue strongly with the UK. "Have raised the discriminatory nature of UK vaccine recognition for AstraZeneca but not Covishield. Discussions on, but if they do not satisfy us, we would be well within our rights to take reciprocal action," Shringla had said.

"Non-recognition of Covishield is a discriminating policy and impacts Indian citizens travelling to the UK. I am told that certain assurances have been given that this issue will be resolved," he added. The new rules will come into effect from October 4. (ANI)