Europe’s new ‘vaccine passport’ programme, which recognises a few COVID-19 vaccines to enable people to travel in and out of Europe with few hurdles, includes the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine but not the version manufactured in India – Covishield.
The immunity passport or ‘Green Pass’, available from 1 July, will serve as proof that the individual has been vaccinated against COVID-19, or has recently tested negative against it, or has natural immunity build up from an earlier version.The ‘Green Pass’ is being launched to enable hassle-free travel into and between the EU countries. However, only the ones inoculated with EMA-recognised vaccines will be able to claim this “digital passport”
A majority of people in India have received Covishield, manufactured locally by Pune-based Serum Institute of India.Serum Institute CEO Adar Poonawalla on Monday tweeted “I realise that a lot of Indians who have taken COVISHIELD are facing issues with travel to the E.U., I assure everyone, I have taken this up at the highest levels and hope to resolve this matter soon, both with regulators and at a diplomatic level with countries,”
From 1 July onwards, those who hold the Green Pass will not need to quarantine or test for COVID when entering a EU country. However, individual countries may impose restrictions depending on their currently infection rate/case load.
There are three types of EU’s COVID-19 passport/Green Pass launched:
- Vaccination passport
- Test certificate
- Recovery certificate
According to schengenvisainfo.com, individuals who have recently been infected with COVID-19 and have recovered from it should also be permitted to travel with an EU COVID travel certificate