The Netherlands approves Covishield, an Indian vaccine against the coronavirus as valid proof of vaccination. This vaccine is being prepared by the Serum Institute Of India (SII) and had previously not been approved as proof of vaccination by any of the European Union Countries. But earlier this week, 7 of the EU countries approved the vaccine, including Austria, Estonia, Greece, Ireland. The Netherlands is the 8th country to approve it.
The Netherlands approves Covishield, fully vaccinated travelers can visit EU nations unless they are traveling from a very high-risk country region due to the presence of the new COVID variant. As per the government of the Netherlands website, Covishield is now a part of the approved vaccines along with Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, and Pfizer-BioNTech.
Previously there were apprehensions that the people who had been inoculated with the Covaxin and Covishield vaccines in India were not eligible to travel to EU states under a “Green Pass” scheme. The green pass is a digital covid certificate and aims to facilitate free movement during the Covid-19 pandemic and is mandatory to travel to the European Nations, which will serve as proof of vaccination. The 27-member European Union introduced the EU Digital COVID Certificate to facilitate safe free movement during the pandemic. The pass came into effect on July 1
“Versions of EU-approved vaccines approved abroad (original or licensed productions) are equivalent to the mentioned EU-approved vaccines for proof of vaccination protection,” said German Embassy spokesperson on allowing the green pass to travelers who took Covishield vaccine.
The individual member states also have the flexibility to accept vaccines that have been authorized at the national level or those recognized by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
India has also conveyed to the EU member states that it will adopt a policy of reciprocity and exempt European nationals holding the ‘Green Pass’ from mandatory quarantine in the country provided its request to recognize Covishield and Covaxin vaccines are heeded to, they said. The sources said India has requested the EU member nations to accept the vaccination certificate issued through the CoWIN portal.
