New Delhi, After New Delhi’s warning of slapping reciprocal measures, the UK on Wednesday moved quickly to give the go-ahead to AstraZeneca’s Covishield vaccine but left out India from the list of approved countries for vaccine certification. In the evening, the British High Commissioner said they were holding talks at “a rapid pace” to ensure “both countries mutually recognise the vaccine certificates issued by each other".
The development came as Prime Minister Narendra Modi in an address to the Covid-19 Global Summit hosted by US President Joe Biden said that international travel should be made easier through mutual recognition of vaccine certificates.
Alex Ellis, British High Commissioner to India, said in a late evening message: "We’re clear Covishield is not a problem."
He said that “detailed technical discussions regarding certification” were being held with the builders of the CoWIN app and the UK’s NHS app, “about both apps. They’re happening at a rapid pace, to ensure that both countries mutually recognise the vaccine certificates issued by each other."
He said the UK is open to travel “and we’re already seeing a lot of people going from India to the UK, be it tourists, business people or students”.
“Over 62,500 student visas have been issued in the year ending June 2021, which is an increase of almost 30 per cent as compared to the previous year," Ellis said.
“We want to make the process of travelling as easy as possible,” he added.
Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla had on Tuesday warned that India could "impose reciprocal measures” if the UK did not heed its request.
In its travel advisory approving Covishield, the UK said that "Formulations of the 4 listed vaccines such as AstraZeneca Covishield, AstraZeneca Vaxzevria and Moderna Takeda, qualify as approved vaccines".
It also said that travellers with a full course of "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, Taiwan or the United Arab Emirates (UAE)" will qualify as fully vaccinated.
Leaving out India from among the countries listed means that Indian travellers will have to undergo a mandatory 10 days quarantine after arrival in the UK, despite being fully vaccinated with Covishield.
On Monday, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar during a bilateral meeting with the new UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss urged for an early resolution of UK’s quarantine regulations for vaccinated Indian travellers.
Foreign Secretary Shringla, answering a query on the subject, on Tuesday said that the Covishield vaccine is a licensed product of a UK company manufactured in India and that “India has supplied 5 million doses to the UK at the request of the government of the UK”.
He said that the vaccines were used in the National Health System “and therefore, non-recognition of Covishield is a discriminatory policy and does impact on those of our citizens travelling to the UK.”
He said that after EAM Jaishankar raised the issue strongly with his UK counterpart, “I'm told that certain assurances have been given that this issue would be resolved”.
“I think obviously, as we go along, we will have to see how it goes. But if you don't get satisfaction, we would be within our eyes to impose reciprocal measures,” he warned.
Meanwhile, the UK’s move to exclude India drew widespread flak.
Dr. Arvinder Singh Soin, group chairman of Medanta Hospital group, in a tweet said: “The UK finally says that Covishield qualifies as an approved vaccine for travel. Should've happened much sooner.
“As for CoWIN certificates, they are literally QR code-verifiable and accessible across multiple platforms. Don't see why they pose any issues at all. Defying logic.”
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, head of Biocon, in a tweet said: “Problem Isn't Covishield But India's Vaccine Certificate, Says UK - what a joke!”
“Problem Isn't Covishield But India's Vaccine Certificate, Says UK - India’s digital certification is far more reliable than other countries’ manual system. Is UK trying to make money on PCR tests?,” she tweeted.
Dr Vijay Chauthaiwale, in charge of the BJP’s Foreign Affairs Department, tweeted: “Can the UK High Commissioner Alex Ellis or any British official correct me if I say that Covishield manufactured in India and administered by a British nurse to a British resident on UK soil gives you immunity, but the vaccine from the same vial by an Indian nurse to an Indian resident on Indian soil does not?”
“It seems UK does not trust ability of Indian nurse to vaccinate or thinks that Indian curry counteracts with Covishield and eliminates immunity..”, he tweeted.
Mahindra Group chairman Anand Mahindra has termed the UK’s move “outrageous”.
“There’s only one way to describe this: Outrageous. No need for diplomatic debates over this. The policy should be revised as soon as possible (sic)," Mahindra wrote on Twitter.
Adar Poonawalla, the head of Serum Institute of India the manufacturer or Covishield, welcomed the announcement by the UK giving the green signal to the vaccine.
He said he is delighted that the UK has cleared Covishield.
Last week, the UK issued a list of countries whose vaccines are recognised in England, which does not include India. It places Indians who are vaccinated with Covishield in the category of ‘unvaccinated’. Indians would be required to undergo a pre-departure PCR test and further tests on landing in the UK and 10 days of quarantine.