London: The UK government on Wednesday issued an updated international travel advisory to include AstraZeneca Covishield among the eligible Covid-19 vaccine formulations but kept India out of the 18 countries on an approved vaccinations list, requiring Indians to follow rules set out for non-vaccinated travellers.
Despite the inclusion of Covishield, Indian travellers are not exempt from the quarantine rules under the UK’s new international travel norms that will come into force from October 4, with the British officials in Delhi maintaining that the main issue is vaccine certification and not the vaccine and that both India and the UK are holding talks to mutually resolve the matter.
There is no official reaction from India on the inclusion of Covishield to the approved list of vaccines by the UK. According to the UK rules, Indian travellers who have received both doses of the Covishield vaccine manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII) will be considered unvaccinated and will have to undergo self-isolation for 10 days.
National Health Authority CEO RS Sharma said he was not aware of any concerns being raised by the UK about vaccine certification by India, asserting that the Co-WIN system is WHO-compliant.