Now, Covishield Excluded From EU’s COVID ‘Green Pass’ List

New Delhi: The World Health Organization is yet to approve Covaxin, leaving in a fix those overseas-bound students and professionals who had taken India’s indigenously-developed vaccine.

Now, even Serum Institute’s Covishield – Indian version of Oxford-Astrazeneca vaccine – is under scrutiny.

European Union will be issuing a Green Pass for use by travellers from July 1. But travellers vaccinated with Covishield may not be eligible for the Green Pass.

Many EU nations have started issuing the digital “vaccine passport” which will enable European citizens to travel for work or tourism purposes.

The EU had earlier ruled that member states can issue certificates irrespective of the type of COVID-19 vaccine. But latest technical specifications of Green Pass state that it would be limited to “vaccines that have received EU-wide marketing authorization.”

Covishield has not been approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for the European market. The Green Pass will only recognize the Vaxzervria version of AstraZeneca vaccine, which is manufactured in the UK or other sites in Europe.

The other three vaccines which have been approved by EMA and can be used in EU member states are Comirnaty (Pfizer-BioNTech), Moderna and Janssen (Johnson & Johnson).