Vaccine major Serum Institute of India (SII) chief executive officer Adar Poonawalla on Monday said he is investigating the issues faced by Indians who have taken the Covishield jab and are travelling to the European Union and hoped to resolve them soon. He said in a tweet that he has “taken this up at the highest levels, both with regulators and at a diplomatic level with countries.” Covishield is the Oxford University-AstraZeneca vaccine manufactured in India by the Pune-based vaccine maker.
"I realise that a lot of Indians who have taken Covishield are facing issues with travel to the EU, I assure everyone, I have taken this up at the highest levels and hope to resolve this matter soon, both with regulators and at a diplomatic level with countries," Poonawalla said in a tweet.
The Wire reported on Monday that SII had not yet applied to have the vaccine approved by the European Medicines Agency. The EU Digital COVID Certificate will show that a person has been vaccinated against COVID-19, has a negative test result or recovered from the coronavirus, according to the EU’s official website. The EU Digital certificate pertains to movement within EU member states.
As of now European Union (EU) recognises Vaxzevria (previously called COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca, Oxford). The other vaccines approved by the European Medicine Agency are Comirnaty by BioNTech-Pfizer, Moderna, and Janssen (by Johnson & Johnson). The EU has referred to this as the “Green Pass” which will be available from July 1 onwards for travellers to member states. The pass is said to serve as proof of vaccination against the coronavirus, and would allow for movement in member states for business and tourism.
According to reports, individual member states may change their own rules for entry of travellers with some vaccines that have not been approved by the EMA. “When it comes to waiving free movement restrictions, Member States will have to accept vaccination certificates for vaccines which received EU marketing authorisation. Member States may decide to extend this also to EU travellers that received another vaccine,” the EU website states.