The European Union’s decision not to include Covishield in the list of approved vaccines for the digital green certificate, an EU-wide travel pass, has many worried in India and across the world.
Amid allegations of racism, sources in the European Union (EU) clarified its stand on the exclusion of Serum Institute’s Covishield, saying the EU Digital Covid Certificate is meant to facilitate safe free movement within the European Union during the pandemic.
The green pass, launched to enable hassle-free travel into and between the member states, is not necessary for those travelling from outside of the European Union, sources added.
“The aim of the EU Digital Covid Certificate is to facilitate free movement inside the member nations. It is not a pre-condition to travel, the sources said.
“It will serve as proof that a person was vaccinated against Covid-19, received a negative test result or recovered from Covid-19,” EU sources said.
So far, four vaccines — Comirnaty of Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, Vaxzervria by AstraZeneca-Oxford and, Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen — have been approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for the EU Digital Covid Certificate.
This comes a day after the Serum Institute of India urged the government to take up inclusion of Covishield on the EU Covid-19 green pass list with the European Union and other countries, saying if not done it will affect students and business travellers, and disrupt the Indian and global economy.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) had earlier on Monday clarified that SII’s Covishield was excluded from the list of approved vaccines for the ‘Green Pass’ since it does not currently have marketing authorisation in the EU.
“In the EU, the vaccine called Covishield does not currently have a marketing authorisation. Even though it may use an analogous production technology to Vaxzevria (the Covid-19 Astra Zeneca vaccine authorised in the EU),” EMA press officer Zala Grudnik told India Today Television in response to an email query.
The European Medicine Agency (EMA), however, said on Tuesday that it has not received a request for approval so far. “It will examine any such request when received, as per its procedures,” sources said.
Meanwhile, on travel restriction to India, the EU sources said, “Temporary restrictions on non-essential travel to the EU are currently in place from many non-EU countries, including India, due to Covid-19 cases. The EU member states shall gradually lift these temporary travel restrictions at the external borders, based on developments of the health situation.”
