Covid-19 vaccine certification for travel must meet 'minimum criteria', says UK

The UK government has said that Covid19 vaccine certification from all countries must meet a minimum criteria and that it is working with India on a phased approach to its international travel normsIt follows Covishield the Serum Institute of India manufactured OxfordAstraZeneca vaccine being added as eligible to an expanded UK travel advisory on WednesdayBut with Indias vaccine certification not on a list of 18 approved countries Indian travellers to the UK will continue to be treated as nonvaccinated and therefore required to quarantine for 10 days on arrivalFollowing much confusion over this process UK government sources said on Wednesday night that additions or changes to the approved country listings are being kept under regular consideration but there was no further clarity on the required criteria for approving a countrys vaccine certificationAs part of our recently expanded inbound vaccination policy we recognise the following vaccines Pfizer BioNTech Oxford AstraZeneca Moderna and Janssen JampJ for the purposes of international travel This now includes the formulations AstraZeneca Covishield AstraZeneca Vaxzevria and Moderna Takeda a UK government spokesperson saidAlso Read UKrsquos advisory clears Covishield but India not in list of countriesOur top priority remains protecting public health and reopening travel in a safe and sustainable way which is why vaccine certification from all countries must meet the minimum criteria taking into account public health and wider considerations We continue to work with international partners including India to roll out our phased approach the spokesperson saidTravellers who are not fully vaccinated or vaccinated in a country such as India currently not on the UK governments recognised list must take a predeparture test pay for day two and day eight PCR tests after arrival in England and selfisolate for 10 days with an option to test to release after five days following a negative PCR testWith reference to an outcry over Indias vaccination certification not being recognised despite Covishield being one of two main COVID19 vaccines administered in India UK government sources would only say that the rollout of its inbound vaccination programme to other countries and territories was always intended as a phased approach building on the success of pilots with the US and EuropeThe 18 countries currently on the UK governments approved inbound vaccinations list besides the US and Europe include Australia Antigua and Barbuda Barbados Bahrain Brunei Canada Dominica Israel Japan Kuwait Malaysia New Zealand Qatar Saudi Arabia Singapore South Korea Taiwan and the United Arab Emirates UAETalks are being held in New Delhi between British officials and National Health Authority representatives led by CEO RS Sharma in an attempt to resolve Indias omission from this listExcellent technical discussions with rssharma AyushmanNHA Neither side raised technical concerns with each others certification process An important step forward in our joint aim to facilitate travel and fully protect public health of UK and Indiaiquest British High Commissioner to India Alex Ellis tweeted on ThursdayFrom October 4 Englands traffic light system of red amber and green countries based on levels of COVID19 risk is to be officially scrapped However despite Covishield now being recognised within the UKs eligible vaccine formulations it would not offer any advantage to Covishieldvaccinated Indian travellers planning a UK visitThe Indian government has expressed its strong condemnation of such a move and warned of reciprocal measures if vaccinated travellers from India continued to be treated in a discriminatory wayAt a Global COVID summit hosted by US President Joe Biden on Wednesday Prime Minister Narendra Modi reiterated that international travel should be made easier through ldquomutual recognition of vaccine certificatesrdquoThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever