- Thursday, April 25, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
THE UK government has said that Covaxin, the India-made vaccine for coronavirus, will be added to its list of approved jabs for international travellers from November 22. The announcement will give relief to those who travel to the UK after taking the vaccine manufactured by Bharat Biotech in Hyderabad.
The move came after the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Emergency-use listing of Covaxin. The UK added Covishield, the India-manufactured Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, to its approved list in October. The decision was taken following a brief spell of diplomatic row with India which also made entry of travellers from the UK to its territory conditional after the UK had imposed quarantine for those who landed on its soil after taking the Covishield vaccine.
ALSO READ: UK adds Covishield to list of approved vaccines
“More good news for Indian travellers to the UK. From 22 November travellers fully vaccinated with a COVID19 vaccine recognised by WHO for Emergency Use Listing, including Covaxin, will not have to self-isolate; so joining those fully vaccinated with Covishield,” Alex Ellis, British high commissioner to India, said on Twitter on Monday (8).
More good news for 🇮🇳 travellers to 🇬🇧👇
From 22 November travellers fully vaccinated with a #COVID19 vaccine recognised by @WHO for Emergency Use Listing, including Covaxin, will not have to self-isolate; so joining those fully vaccinated with Covishield.https://t.co/UyJsryBd0O https://t.co/mZhaqRgB35— Alex Ellis (@AlexWEllis) November 8, 2021
‘UK non-recognition of Covishield jab discriminatory’
The changes will come into effect on November 22.
Besides Covaxin, China’s Sinovac and Sinopharm, both on the WHO emergency-use listing, will be recognised by the UK government as approved vaccines for in-bound travel, benefitting those from the United Arab Emirates and Malaysia who have been fully vaccinated. These fully vaccinated passengers will not be required to take a pre-departure test, day-8 test or self-isolate upon arrival.
“As we continue to recover from the pandemic and expand our recognition of international vaccines, today’s announcements mark the next step in our restart of international travel,” UK transport secretary Grant Shapps was quoted as saying by Reuters.
“The red list and quarantine system remain vital in protecting our borders and as we’ve said, we will not hesitate to take action by adding countries to the red list if necessary,” UK health secretary Sajid Javid said.
The UK government has also eased travel rules for all under-18s coming to England. They will now be treated as fully vaccinated at the border and will be exempt from self-isolation requirements on arrival, day-8 testing and pre-departure testing. They will only be required to undergo one post-arrival test and a confirmatory free PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test if they test positive.
