Covishield Kept Out Of EU ‘Green Pass’ List
The ‘Green Pass’ list is an immunity document which highlights the vaccination status of the traveler. It plans to ease post-vaccination travel within and to and from the bloc.
In what may come across as a major blow to the travelers contemplating travel to European countries, the European Union has not recognized the Oxford – AstraZeneca vaccine, branded as Covishield, in its ‘Green Pass’ list.
The Green Pass list is an immunity document which was designed to ease post-vaccination travel within and to and from the bloc.
The non-inclusion of the Covishield in the Green Pass list has come across as a huge shock to the Indians, who have primarily received the vaccination shot of Covishield, manufactured by Pune-based pharmaceutical giant Serum Institute of India.
At present, only four vaccines have been included in the approved Green Pass list. These are Comirnaty (Pfizer/BioNTech), Moderna, Vaxzervria (AstraZeneca-Oxford), Janssen (Johnson & Johnson).
The European Union has however stated that member states can issue the certificates regardless of the type of Covid-19 vaccine. But the key technical specifications highlight that the Green Pass will be limited to “vaccines that have received EU-wide marketing authorization”.
Adar Poonawalla, the CEO of the Serum Institute of India (SII), soon realized the gravity of the situation. In his tweet, he wrote, “I realize 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.”
“Covishield is already cleared by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United Kingdom’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (UKMHRA), so I hope the EMA clearance will also come on over the next few weeks,” he added.
