President of the 76th United Nations General Assembly Abdulla Shahid on Friday said that he took two doses of the Covishield vaccine manufactured by the Serum Institute in India.
Shahid further said that even if some countries accept Covishield or not, a large portion of nations around the world have administered the Serum Institute produced vaccine.
The Covishield vaccine is developed by British-Swedish Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca and has been manufactured by Pune-based Serum Institute of India.
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"On vaccines, that's a very technical question you have asked me. I got Covishield from India, I've got the two doses. I don't know how many countries would say that Covishield is acceptable or not, but a large portion of the countries has got Covishield," Shahid said while talking to media persons.
Shahid jokingly said that he survived the vaccination process, and further clarified that “a medical person should make that call, not me.”
UN General’s comments came as the UK initially decided to recognise several different vaccines from all around the world but refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of Covishield. This move garnered a lot of flak from the Indian government after which the British government decided to recognize the Serum Institute manufactured vaccine on September 22 by amending its guidelines.
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However, Indian citizens visiting the UK still had to face problems as the British government did not uplift the quarantine rules for Indian travellers. Later, British officials said the UK has issues with India's vaccine certification process and not with the Covishield vaccine.
The British government is yet to amend this decision and is going to implement this move from Monday. Fully vaccinated Indians will have to undergo 10-day quarantine as the UK has issues with India's Covid-19 vaccine certification.
Meanwhile, the Indian government also decided to reciprocate the move and implemented curbs on all British citizens arriving in the country.
India has exported over 66 million vaccine doses to nearly 100 countries through grants, commercial shipments and the COVAX facility. The Maldives, the home country of Mr Shahid, was among the first nations to receive the India-made vaccines in January when 100,000 doses of Covishield were dispatched to Male.
