Those who are fully vaccinated by the two doses of covaxin might not be allowed to travel abroad as the vaccine as the vaccine produced by Bharat Biotech has not been included in World Health Organization’s (WHO) Emergency Use Listing (EUL) yet, according to a report by LiveHindustan.
Many countries in Europe are re-opening to promote their travel and tourism industries and are likely to make rules for entry of passengers based on recommendations from their respective health departments or to allow individuals jabbed with shots manufactured by their companies, EUL List of WHO.
As per the latest guideance document of WHO, Bharat Biotech has submitted its Expression of Interest, but “more information is required.” WHO has said the pre-submission meeting is to be planned in May-June. Following this, the Bharat Biotech must submit its Dossier, acceptance of which would lead to WHO’s statement of assessment before it decides to include Covaxin.
Immigration expert Vikarm Shroff, said if a particular vaccine is not on EUL or approved by a foreign country, the traveller may be regarded as non-vaccinated.
India’s other vaccine – Covishield – manufactured by Pune-based Serum Institute of India is on WHO’s EUL. WHO listed the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for emergency use on December 31 last year; two AstraZeneca/Oxford Covid-19 vaccines on February 15, produced by AstraZeneca-SKBio (Republic of Korea) and the Serum Institute of India; and the Covid-19 vaccine Ad26.COV2.S developed by Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) on March 12. The UN body has also granted approval to Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine and included China’s Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine in its EUL.