New Delhi: Controversy continues in the European Union over Covishield. Switzerland and seven European Union countries have allowed travel to people who have received the shield on Thursday. The special thing is that a day earlier, India had formally appealed to the members of the EU to include Covishield and Covaccine in the passport list. Apart from this, on Wednesday, the Center had said that mandatory quarantine rules will have to be implemented for EU citizens if Covishield and Covaccine are not included. Those taking the vaccine prepared at the Serum Institute of India in Pune will be able to get a green pass in Switzerland.
On Thursday, Austria, Germany, Slovenia, Greece, Island, Ireland, and Spain have accepted the Covishield vaccine. India had appealed to the member countries to approve the vaccine certificate received through the Cowin portal. During this, Indian officials had said that ‘the genuineness of the certificate can be certified through Cowin.’
At present, the European Medicines Agency has allowed only four vaccines. These include Pfizer/BioNtech’s Corminati, Moderna, AstraZeneca-Oxford’s Vaxservia, and Johnson & Johnson’s Jensen. Only these four vaccine recipients were being given vaccine passports and allowed to travel within the European Union during the pandemic.
On Monday, Serum Institute CEO Adar Poonawalla tweeted, “I have realized that many Indians who have taken Covishield are facing difficulties traveling to the EU. I assure everyone that I have taken this matter to the top and hope that the matter will be resolved soon at the regulatory and diplomatic levels.
According to the current rules, Indians and people from other countries who have received Covishield or Covaccine cannot travel in the EU without restrictions. This means that they will have to go through the quarantine phase along with the rules made by each country.
