India on Tuesday called out the United Kingdom’s ‘discriminatory’ stand on Covishield after London refused to recognize Covishield as a legitimate vaccine against Covid and imposed a mandatory restriction on Indians visiting the UK.
India further warned of reciprocal action against the UK government if it still does not move to ease the travel restrictions, which makes it compulsory for Indian citizens to self-isolation for 10 days even if they have taken both doses of Covishield.
The UK on Friday announced that it will simplify the existing rules for International travel and incoming tourists from around the world. This included changing the denoting system to be ranked low or high risk, instead of the original three categories - red, amber and green, and scrapping the need for fully vaccinated passengers to take expensive Covid-19 tests on arrival from low-risk countries.
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However, India’s name was not put under the expanded list whose vaccines are recognised in the UK, which meant that Indians vaccinated with Covishield, the SII-produced Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, would be required to undergo compulsory PCR tests as well as self-isolation.
"Have raised the discriminatory nature of UK vaccine recognition for AstraZeneca but not Covishield. Discussions on, but if they do not satisfy us, we would be well within our rights to take reciprocal action," foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said.
Interestingly, the UK has recognized the AstraZeneca vaccine and have no restriction on people with two doses of it. Both AstraZeneca and Covishield are produced by UK-based Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and is manufactured by Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII).
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"Non-recognition of Covishield is a discriminating policy and impacts Indian citizens travelling to the UK," he added.
Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday met his UK counterpart Liz Truss and discussed the resolution of the quarantine issue along with developments in Afghanistan and the Indo-Pacific region.
“Pleased to meet new UK Foreign Secretary @trussliz. Discussed the progress of Roadmap 2030. Appreciated her contribution on the trade side. Exchanged views on developments in Afghanistan and the Indo-Pacific. Urged early resolution of quarantine issue in mutual interest,” he said.
