EU passport rule locks out popular Africa, India jab
By BBC, June 30, 2021Millions of fully vaccinated people in India and Africa could face challenges traveling to Europe under the European Union’s (EU) new vaccine passport scheme, scheduled to take effect on July 1.
That’s despite the fact that they’ll have taken a vaccine that, on the face of it, is already authorised in the EU, as well as by the United Kingdom (UK) and the World Health Organisation.
The EU is making a distinction between one brand of the AstraZeneca jab, named Vaxzevria, and its identical, but Indian-made version Covishield.
The latter, manufactured under license by India’s Serum Institute, is not one of the vaccines listed for the EU’s new digital travel pass.
India has administered nearly 300 million doses of Covishield, while the global, multi-agency Covax program that serves many African countries managed to get hold of about 30 million jabs before supply issues led to restrictions.
Face friction
The move could also exclude travelers from other countries that make local versions of the AstraZeneca vaccine, such as South Korea. India’s Serum Institute is applying for emergency authorisation, BBC News reports.
But unless the EU changes its rules quickly, a lot of people could face friction at its borders even when they begin to relax restrictions for non-EU arrivals. More than usual, anyway.
From July 1, all EU residents can use paper or digital documentation—called the EU Digital Covid Certificate—to enter the bloc, or travel without restrictions inside its borders.
The certificate proves that the traveller has been vaccinated against Covid-19, received a negative test result, or recovered from the disease.
Crucially, it only certifies four vaccines, all of which have been authorized by the European Medicines Agency.
They are: Comirnaty (BioNTech/Pfizer), Spikevax (Moderna),Vaxzevria (AstraZeneca) and Janssen (Johnson & Johnson).
No other vaccines are eligible yet, although several, including Russia’s Sputnik V, are under review.
According to the European Medicine Agency, the exclusion hinges on the fact that Covishield hasn’t obtained authorisation to be marketed in Europe—only four vaccines have that.
Given that Covishield’s focus has been on supplying India and other countries unable to obtain the other, more expensive, and hard-to-store shots, there’s no reason it would have sought this authorisation previously.
Covishield is the biologically identical, but Indian-manufactured version of Vaxzevria, the European brand name for the AstraZeneca vaccine. —BBC