International Travel Uncertain for Those Jabbed With Covaxin

Kudos and congratulations to everyone who has received both shots of the vaccine—Covaxin or Covishield. However, in a bit of a bummer to those who have got the former, you might not be allowed to make international trips just yet. The Bharat Biotech vaccine has been left out of WHO's Emergency Use Listing (EUL), reported various outlets. 

In a bid to bring tourism back on track, several countries are restarting travel with varying protocols and vaccine requirements based on the directives and recommendations of the concerned health departments. These directives are likely to include the right of travel for those who have been inoculated with vaccines that are on the aforementioned EUL.

Read: Maldives Bans Indian Tourists

Adding to the barrage of memes about the reportedly higher efficacy of the other Indian vaccine—Covishield, which has been produced by Serum Institute of India—is the fact that this shot has made it to the EUL. The other jabs on the list include Pfizer/BioNTech, AstraZeneca and Oxford's vaccines produced by Republic of Korea's AstraZeneca-SKBio and India's Serum Institute, Johnson & Johnson's Ad26.COV2.S, China's Sinopharm and Moderna's vaccine.

Covaxin, produced by Bharat Biotech, hasn't made it to the approved vaccines list of the UK, Canada and the European Union. Another vaccine being used in COVID-19 control in India currently—the Sputnik-V, manufactured by the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology and Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF)—hasn't been approved by the WHO either. The future for both of these vaccines appears uncertain at this point with regard to foreign travel.

Meeting with Bharat Biotech International Limited (BBIL) on the status of application for WHO’s Emergency Use Listing (EUL) of COVAXIN. It was noted that COVAXIN had already received regulatory approval from 11 countries: Sources

— ANI (@ANI) May 24, 2021

Read: Countries that Have Banned Travellers from India

However, hang in there - the vaccine is expected to be reviewed during a meeting to be held in May-June 2021. The UN body has asked the firm to supply more information in order to be considered for emergency use listing. The Hyderabad-based company had submitted its expression of interest on April 19, and has stated that it has cleared 90% of the required documentation.