Anger as France rejects Indian-made Covid jab
FRANCE has ruled out accepting the Oxford/AstraZeneca manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, so Britons who received the jab will not be able to bypass quarantine rules if they travel to the country.
Last week, it emerged that five million Oxford/AstraZeneca shots – administered in the UK and made in India – fell foul of the EU’s new vaccine passport scheme. It could result in holidaying Britons being turned back at Europe’s borders.
Launched last Thursday (1), the EU’s Digital Covid Certificate allows those who are fully vaccinated, recently tested or recovered from Covid-19 to move across borders within the EU without having to quarantine or undergo extra coronavirus tests upon arrival.
The EU has so far authorised only four vaccines – those of Pfizer Inc and BioNTech, Moderna Inc, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson.
While the India made vaccines were cleared for use by British regulators, they have not been approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and therefore do not qualify for the EU’s vaccine passport scheme under current rules.
British prime minister Boris Johnson said last week he saw no reason why people who received India-made Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccines should be left out of vaccine passport schemes after the EU did not initially recognise it.
“I see no reason at all why the MHRA-approved vaccines should not be recognised as part of the vaccine passports. I’m very confident that will not prove to be a problem,” Johnson said at a joint news conference with German chancellor Angela Merkel, referring to Britain’s medicines regulator.
Downing Street added the MHRA has shared its assessment of Indian manufacturers with its counterpart at the EMA to assist the approval process.
The EU’s failure to recognise the Indian-made vaccine – the main vaccine used in low and middle-income countries – had already caused outrage across Africa and Asia, where millions of doses have been given.
On Monday (5), the island of Madeira said it would allow entry to British holidaymakers who had the India-made Oxford/Astra-Zeneca jab.
Mainland Portugal only accepts the four vaccines, but Madeira, an autonomous region popular for its wine and green landscape, said those who received other shots, such as those of China’s Sinovac or India’s Covaxin, could visit the Atlantic islands.
Greece, Spain, Iceland and Switzerland are among 10 European countries who will let in British travellers who had the India-made vaccine.
Globally, the organisations behind the Covax scheme have also urged the EU to rethink its policy on the Covishield shot, which has been given to millions of people across Africa and Asia and is different in branding, not substance.