Even as Covishield
awaits approval from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and Covaxin awaits
approval from the World Health Organization (WHO), a number of European countries
now recognise these two vaccines.

Covishield, made by
Serum Institute of India (SII), is the brand name for the Oxford-AstraZeneca
COVID-19 vaccine which also goes by the brand name Vaxzervria.

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Covaxin has been
developed in India by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council
of Medical Research (ICMR).

The European countries
that accept Covishield are: Austria, Germany, Greece, Ireland,
Netherlands, Slovenia and Spain. Further, Switzerland and Iceland have accepted
Covishield for purposes of travel. There have also been reports that Finland
and Latvia have approved Covishield.

Estonia has approved
both Covishield and Covaxin.

The development around
approvals comes on the heels of a controversy that erupted after the European
Union (EU) introduced the ‘green pass’ — a travel pass among EU countries from
July 1.  

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According to the green
pass rules, people vaccinated with any of these four vaccines Cominarty by Pfizer/BioNTech,
Johnson and Johnson’s Janssen and Vaxzervria by Oxford-AstraZeneca.

Even though Covishield
is an equivalent of Vaxzervria, its name did not feature in EU’s list. This
made many Indians apprehensive of not being able to travel to European
countries.

The recognition of
Covishield by some European countries will put Indians planning Europe trips at
peace.

However, it is
important to note that Indians, as of now, are not allowed to travel to many
European countries on account of a ban on travel. Further, the EU has said that
the green pass does not apply to travellers from outside the European Union.

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The Serum Institute of
India (SII) has said that it has applied for EMA approval which should arrive
in a month’s time. Meanwhile, India has urged EU member nations to recognize
Covishield and Covaxin and treat Indians at par with those vaccinated in EU
countries.