New Delhi [India]: Amid concerns in India about UK’s new travel rules, Britain has said that it is engaging to explore the recognition of New Delhi’s vaccine certification of COVID-19 vaccine to people. “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,” 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,” the spokesperson added. The UK issued a revised travel advisory on Wednesday and said that Covishield is qualified as an approved vaccine. It approved individuals with a full course of the Oxford/AstraZeneca, Pfizer BioNTech, Moderna or Janssen vaccines from a relevant public health body in Australia, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Bahrain, Brunei, Canada, Dominica, Israel, Japan, Kuwait, Malaysia, New Zealand, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea or Taiwan. But the list does not include India. This advisory will be applicable from 4 am (local time) on October 4. Covishield is manufactured by the Pune-based Serum Institute of India. India had said on Tuesday that it will be within its rights to take reciprocal measures against UK’s “discriminatory” move to recognise AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine but not Covishield if the issue is not satisfactorily resolved. Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla told media persons on Tuesday that External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had raised the issue strongly with the UK. “Have raised the discriminatory nature of UK vaccine recognition for AstraZeneca but not Covishield. Discussions on, but if they do not satisfy us, we would be well within our rights to take reciprocal action,” Shringla said. “Non-recognition of Covishield is a discriminating policy and impacts Indian citizens travelling to the UK. I am told that certain assurances have been given that this issue will be resolved,” he added.
