|THE DEN|
A new concept of traveling with a green pass has been introduced by the European nations since July 1. According to reports, people who wish to travel to the EU are authorized to travel only if they are vaccinated by either of the four vaccines; Moderna, Vaxzervria by AstraZeneca-Oxford, Comirnaty of Pfizer/BioNTech, or Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen.
As Covishield's name had not been included but Vaxzervria's counterpart was listed, a controversy ignited as Indians vaccinated with Covishield and Covaxin were unable to travel to Europe without facing mandatory quarantine even after inoculation.
The other side of this vaccines war is that now the Covishield vaccine is looking for authorization from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and Covaxin is awaiting World Health Organisation approval. Also with this, certain European countries have begun acceptance of these two vaccines to prevent Indians vaccinated with either of these vaccines from having a problem with the withdrawal of the travel ban on India.
List of the countries that approved Covishield for travel
Ireland
Germany
Switzerland
Finland
Netherlands
Spain
Estonia
Greece
Iceland
Latvia
Slovenia
Austria
The Facts
Indians can't go to several European countries from now on, because the travel restriction is in place. For foreign travel, the vaccine is not yet compulsory. Negative test report RT-PCR, followed by local quarantine, is still a norm for outside visitors. Serum Institute of India has requested clearance from EMA, which will take around one month.
India has requested EU Member States to recognise Covishield and Covaxin independently and to treat Indians who have been jabbed par with those in the EU Member States.