Geneva: The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday that any countries that open their borders to people who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 (in order to allow people from other countries to travel there), will be considered the world’s top Anyone receiving a vaccine approved for emergency use by a health body must be allowed to travel.
The move poses a challenge for Western countries to expand the scope of approvals for two Chinese vaccines that have been licensed by the WHO but not approved by most European and North American countries.
The WHO has also approved two Chinese vaccines in addition to vaccines from Pfizer-Biotech, Moderna Inc., AstraZeneca, and Johnson & Johnson. The Chinese vaccines are developed by Sinovac and Sinopharm. In a bid to restore travel within Europe, the European Union said in May that it would only allow the movement of people who had received a dose of vaccines approved by the European Medicines Agency. It also said that if any country wants to allow travelers who have received other vaccines, including Russia’s Sputnik V, then it will be of its own free will.
The EU drug regulator is currently considering licensing China’s Sinovac vaccine, but there is no timeline for when a decision will be taken. “Any move that seeks to extend travel benefits to only those protected from a subset of WHO-approved vaccines would create a two-pronged system, widen the global vaccine divide, and increase the risk of COVID-19 vaccines,” the WHO said in a statement. The inequalities that have already been observed in the distribution of
It said, “This will have a negative impact on the economies which have already been hit the hardest. Such steps will undermine confidence in life-saving vaccines that have already been proven to be safe and effective.” In its review of both China’s vaccines, the WHO said that it has been found that both vaccines are effective in reducing the risk of hospitalization and death.
