UK govt approves Covidshield, problems still with India's vaccine certificate

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After criticism for the recent travel advisory that prescribed 10 days quarantine for fully vaccinated Indians, the UK's new advisory has accommodated SII's Covishield as an approved Covid-19 vaccine, however, double-vaccinated Indians still have to quarantine because of "vaccination certification issues", according to UK officials. The Indian and the UK government are in talks to resolve the issue.

As per an NDTV report, officials have implied the problem is not Covishield but doubts over vaccine certification in India.

Responding to the new sticking point, a top health official told NDTV there are "no issues" with the Indian vaccine certificate.

"The system is entirely WHO (World Health Organisation) compliant. We continue to have discussions with the International Civil Aviation Organisation as well. The UK High Commissioner visited me on September 2. They wanted to understand the CoWin system, the technical aspects. A resource has been allocated to them for this purpose and two further conversations have happened with their team. These were technical-level conversations," Dr Sharma said.

The updated UK travel guidelines say, "Formulations of the four listed vaccines, such as AstraZeneca Covishield, AstraZeneca Vaxzevria and Modern Takeda, qualify as approved vaccines." The site explains that from 4 am, October 4, those who have taken vaccines from a "relevant public health body" in specific countries will be considered "fully vaccinated". That list does not include India.

This suggests that Indians vaccinated with two doses of Covishield will still need to quarantine even though India is now on the Amber list.

Also Read: Assured Covishield ban issue in UK will be resolved: Shringla

As per an IANS report, a British High Commission spokesperson said, "The UK is committed to opening up international travel again as soon as is practicable and this announcement is a further step to enable people to travel more freely again, in a safe and sustainable way, while protecting public health. We are engaging with the Government of India to explore how we could expand UK recognition of vaccine certification to people vaccinated by a relevant public health body in India."

India had earlier warned of "reciprocal measures" if Covishield, the Indian version of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine, was not recognised.

WHO chief scientist Dr Saumya Swaminathan had said that all countries are supposed to follow the WHO recommendations. "WHO's position is clear on this that all countries should recognize EUL vaccines. All countries are supposed to follow our recommendations. They are not binding," said Swaminathan.

(With PTI inputs)