Seven EU nations, Switzerland, Iceland clear Covishield amid travel pass row
New Delhi/IBNS: In a big diplomatic win for India, seven European Union (EU) nations along with Switzerland and Iceland have cleared Serum Institute of India (SII)'s anti-COVID-19 vaccine Covishield amid row over travel pass, media reports said.
The seven EU nations are Austria, Germany, Slovenia, Greece, Estonia, Ireland and Spain.
This comes after India in strong-worded communication asked the European Union that either Covishield and Covaxin must be notified in its digital COVID-19 certificate or people from the EU will face mandatory quarantine upon arrival in the Asian country.
Under the new "Green Pass" scheme, people vaccinated with Covishield were not allowed to travel to the member states of European Union.
The EU countries were accepting only the vaccines approved by the European Medicines Agency, which are Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, and Janssen.
But Covishield, which is the Indian version of AstraZeneca, was yet to get their approval.
At present, only two vaccines, Covishield and indigenous Covaxin, have been rolled out in India.
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