Confusion reigns over Covishield on UK's travel advisory as India not on eligibility list

September 22, 2021 15:43

There is confusion over the UK government's vaccine recognition process for Indian travellers as even though Oxford/AstraZeneca Covishield, the India-manufactured Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, is on an updated international travel advisory, India is not yet on a list of 17 approved countries.

The UK's Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) have said on Wednesday that they are unable to confirm this and will require further clarifications.

The advisory states: Formulations of the 4 listed vaccines, such as AstraZeneca Covishield, AstraZeneca Vaxzevria and Moderna Takeda, qualify as approved vaccines.

There has been widespread condemnation of the Serum Institute of India manufactured vaccines not being included in a list of eligible COVID-19 vaccines recognised under Britain's reviewed international travel norms, effective from October 4.

From October 4, England's current traffic light system of red, amber and green countries based on levels of COVID-19 risk will be scrapped and replaced with one red list only.

However, there is a lack of clarity over whether Indians vaccinated with any vaccines in India including Covishield fall within the UK's eligibility criteria or not.

"We have to see how it goes. But if we do not get satisfaction we would be within our rights to impose reciprocal measures," Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said in response to a question on the issue in New Delhi on Tuesday.

"The basic issue is that here is a vaccine, Covishield, which is a licensed product of the UK company, manufactured in India of which we have supplied five million doses to the UK at the request of the government of the UK.

"We understand that this is being used under the national health system, and, therefore, non-recognition of Covishield is a discriminatory policy and does impact those of our citizens travelling to the UK," he said.

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