A day after reports surfaced that Indian travellers vaccinated with Covishield might not be eligible for EU’s Green Pass, Adar Poonawala has assured to take up the matter with the highest authorities.
In a tweet on Monday (June 28), Adar Poonawalla informed, “I realise that a lot of Indians who have taken COVISHIELD are facing issues with travel to the E.U.” He added, “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.”
I realise that a lot of Indians who have taken COVISHIELD are facing issues with travel to the E.U., 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.
— Adar Poonawalla (@adarpoonawalla) June 28, 2021
The European Union (EU) had earlier announced that ‘Green Paas’ would be available from July 1 onwards to those individuals, who have been vaccinated with vaccines approved by European Medicines Agency (EMA). These include Janssen (Johnson & Johnson), Moderna, Comirnaty (Pfizer/BioNTech), and Vaxzervria (AstraZeneca). As per the technical specifications of the Green Pass, it will be limited to the vaccines that have marketing authorisation in the EU.
The Green Pass will help people move freely through the EU Member States, both for work and tourism. It must be mentioned that the Covishield vaccine is manufactured by the Serum Institute of India while it has been developed by Oxford-AstraZeneca. Currently, the EU recognises only the Vaxzervria version of the AstraZeneca vaccine. Indian citizens and residents of poor and middle-income nations have been vaccinated with the Covishield under the COVAX initiative.
Since SII is the largest vaccine manufacturer in the world, most Indians, along with millions of people across the world have already received or are to receive the SII manufactured vaccine.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has allowed emergency use of Covishield, CoronaVac and Sinopharm under the Emergency Use List. Meanwhile, Iceland will allow entry to people vaccinated with vaccines approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) or the WHO. France has approved the entry of individuals vaccinated with only EMA approved vaccines and not the Indian vaccines.
