India has requested EU member states to individually consider extending the exemption to those persons who have taken Covishield and Covaxin and said it will institute a reciprocal policy for recognition of the EU Digital COVID Certificate, sources said.
The 27-member European Union is introducing the EU Digital COVID Certificate framework to facilitate safe free movement during the COVID pandemic and it will come into effect from July 1.
Under this framework, persons vaccinated with vaccines authorized by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) will be exempted from travel restrictions within the EU, sources said adding that individual member states have the flexibility to also accept vaccines that have been authorized at the national level or by the World Health Organization.
“We have requested EU member states to individually consider extending similar exemption to those persons who have taken COVID-19 vaccines in India i.e. Covishield and Covaxin, and accept the vaccination certificate issued through the CoWIN portal. The genuineness of such vaccination certification can be authenticated on the CoWIN portal,” a source said.
Both Covishield and Covaxin are ‘Made in India’ vaccines against COVID-19. “We have also conveyed to EU member states that India will institute a reciprocal policy for recognition of the EU Digital COVID Certificate,” the source added.
The sources said that on notification of Covishield and Covaxin for inclusion in the EU Digital COVID Certificate and recognition of Indian CoWIN vaccination certificates, Indian health authorities would reciprocally exempt the concerned EU member state for exemption from the mandatory quarantine of all those persons carrying EU COVID certificate.