Austria, Germany, Slovenia, Greece, Iceland, Ireland and Spain are among the countries allowing travel by people who have taken Covishield vaccines, the sources said.
Tag: EU travel certificate
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Consider Covishield, Covaxin vaccines under Green pass scheme to avoid mandatory quarantine: India tells EU nations
By PTI
NEW DELHI: As the European Union relaxes travel restrictions under its ‘Green Pass’ scheme, India has asked the members of the 27-nation grouping to individually consider allowing Indians who have taken Covishield and Covaxin vaccines and want to travel to Europe, sources said.India has also conveyed to the EU member states that it will adopt a policy of reciprocity and exempt European nationals holding the ‘Green Pass’ from mandatory quarantine in the country provided its request to recognise Covishield and Covaxin vaccines is heeded to, they said.
The sources said India has requested the EU member nations to accept the vaccination certificate issued through the CoWIN portal.
The European Union’s Digital COVID certificate or “Green Pass” will be rolled out on Thursday with an aim to facilitate free movement during the COVID-19 pandemic is to come into effect on Thursday.
ALSO READ | Confident of getting EMA’s approval in a month for Covishield: Adar Poonawalla
Under this framework, persons who have taken vaccines authorised by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) will be exempted from travel restrictions within the EU region.
The individual member states have the flexibility to also accept vaccines that have been authorised at the national level or those recognised by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
“We have requested EU member states to individually consider extending similar exemption to those persons who have taken COVID-19 vaccines in India, that is Covishield and Covaxin, and accept the vaccination certificate issued through the CoWIN portal,” said a source.
The sources said the genuineness of such vaccination certification can be authenticated on the CoWIN portal.
“We have also conveyed to EU member states that India will institute a reciprocal policy for recognition of the EU Digital Covid Certificate,” the source said.
“Upon notification of Covishield and Covaxin for inclusion in the EU Digital Covid Certificate and recognition of Indian CoWIN vaccination certificates, Indian health authorities would reciprocally exempt the EU member state concerned for exemption from the mandatory quarantine of all those persons carrying EU digital COVID certificate,” the source said.
There have been apprehensions in India that people who took Covishield and Covaxin jabs are unlikely to be eligible to travel to the European Union member states under its ‘Green Pass’ scheme.
The EU Digital COVID certificate or ‘Green Pass’ will be mandatory to travel to European countries and the document will serve as proof that a person is vaccinated against COVID-19.
An EU official on Tuesday said individual member states of the European Union will have the option to accept vaccines authorised by the World Health Organisation (WHO) like Covishield for obtaining the bloc’s digital COVID certificate.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday took up the issue of inclusion of Covishield in the EU digital Covid certificate scheme during a meeting with Josep Borrell Fontelles, the High Representative of the European Union.
The meeting took place on the sidelines of a G20 meeting in Italy.
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India requests EU member states to consider Covishield, Covaxin vaccines under Green passport scheme
By PTI
NEW DELHI: As the European Union relaxes travel restrictions under its ‘Green Passport’ scheme, India has requested the members of the 27-nation grouping to individually consider allowing Indians who have taken Covishield and Covaxin vaccines to travel to Europe, sources said.The sources said India has requested the EU member nations to accept the vaccination certificate issued through the CoWIN portal.
The European Union’s Digital COVID certificate framework to facilitate free movement during the COVID-19 pandemic is to come into effect on Thursday.
Under this framework, persons who have taken vaccines authorised by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) will be exempted from travel restrictions within the EU.
The individual member states have the flexibility to also accept vaccines that have been authorised at the national level or by the World Health Organisation.
ALSO READ | Confident of getting EMA’s approval in a month for Covishield: Adar Poonawalla
“We have requested EU member states to individually consider extending similar exemption to those persons who have taken COVID-19 vaccines in India, that is Covishield and Covaxin, and accept the vaccination certificate issued through the CoWIN portal,” said a source.
The sources said the genuineness of such vaccination certification can be authenticated on the CoWIN portal.
“We have also conveyed to EU member states that India will institute a reciprocal policy for recognition of the EU Digital Covid Certificate,” the source said.
“Upon notification of Covishield and Covaxin for inclusion in the EU Digital Covid Certificate and recognition of Indian CoWIN vaccination certificates, Indian health authorities would reciprocally exempt the EU member state concerned for exemption from the mandatory quarantine of all those persons carrying EU digital COVID certificate,” the source said.
There have been apprehensions in India that people who took Covishield and Covaxin jabs are unlikely to be eligible to travel to the European Union member states under its ‘Green Pass’ scheme.
The EU Digital COVID certificate or ‘Green Pass’ will be mandatory to travel to European countries and the document will serve as proof that a person is vaccinated against COVID-19.
An EU official on Tuesday said individual member states of the European Union will have the option to accept vaccines authorised by the World Health Organisation (WHO) like Covishield for obtaining the bloc’s digital COVID certificate.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday took up the issue of inclusion of Covishield in the EU digital Covid certificate scheme during a meeting with Josep Borrell Fontelles, the High Representative of the European Union.
The meeting took place on the sidelines of a G20 meeting in Italy.
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Confident of getting EMA’s approval in a month for Covishield: Adar Poonawalla
By PTI
NEW DELHI: Vaccine major Serum Institute of India is confident of receiving approval from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for its COVID-19 vaccine Covishield in a month, company’s chief executive officer Adar Poonawalla said on Wednesday.He also said the issue of vaccine passports should be on the basis of reciprocity between the countries.
“The EMA is absolutely correct in asking us to apply, which we have through AstraZeneca, our partners, a month ago, and that process has to take its time.
An approval process even with UK MHRA, WHO took its time and we have applied to the EMA,” Poonawalla said at India Global Forum 2021.
“We are quite confident that in a month EMA will approve Covishield. There is no reason why not to, because it is based on AstraZeneca data and our product is identical to AstraZeneca more or less and it has been approved by WHO, UK MHRA. So it’s just a matter of time. It is not really going to hinder anything,” he added.
ALSO READ | EU nations will have option to accept WHO authorised jabs like Covishield to issue green pass: Official
But the reason why it was flagged is because if the issue is not addressed now, and when India gets off the red list and when citizens want to travel they should not be refused in a given country just because they have a Covishield certificate.
On the issue of vaccine passports, Poonawalla said that it was a slightly different issue.
“The issue with vaccine passports is slightly different.
What I am trying to say is that let us take a manufacturer outside of India.
Let’s say they have been approved by WHO and everyone in that country gets vaccinated taking that product and now when those citizens need to travel, what good is their vaccine certificate if it is not acknowledged and reciprocity is not there between the countries,” Poonawalla said.
It is that level of reciprocity that is expected between all these nations, he added.
On the issue of waiving of intellectual property rights on vaccines to increase the supply, Poonawalla said waiving of IP is perhaps not going to solve the immediate shortage of vaccines.
However, it is a good strategy in the long term, to be prepared for future pandemics.
Stating that it was difficult for the company to stop the export of Covishield as it had prior commitments, he however said Serum did it in the wake of the second wave of the pandemic hitting India.
Decision of stopping the exports was particularly stressful, “because it was not just our partner AstraZeneca that needed vaccines for the other parts of the world, it was COVAX, it was other countries that we had commitments with, we had taken advance funding, we had to return some of that funding, and really explain to other world leaders as well that there was really no choice at that moment ,” Poonawalla said.
We had to tell them that ,”we really had to support our nation at that moment for a few months and that we would get back to them,” he added.
It was really difficult for everyone to digest that , but slowly as they realised what was going on in India everyone was really supportive and understanding, Poonawalla said.
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