Indian AZ vaccine does not permit free EU travel.

Archibald Knox

Archibald Knox

Well-known member
Up to 5 million British travellers hoping to visit Europe this summer face an extra hurdle as it emerged that those vaccinated with Indian-manufactured AstraZeneca jabs would not automatically skip quarantine.

Under the EU vaccine passport scheme, people given the AstraZeneca jab produced by the Serum Institute of India (SII) would not automatically avoid quarantine and mandatory testing when travelling in Europe.

The SII jab, known as Covishield, offers the same protection as the British-made one, but the company has not sought approval from the European Medicines Agency. The EU vaccine passport, launched on Thursday to ease travel in the 30-country European Economic Area, only recognises jabs approved by the European regulator.

Check your NHS vaccination card. The 5 million AZ doses excluded by the EU scheme had the batch numbers 4120Z001, 4120Z002, 4120Z003. Most were given in March to those aged over 50.

Including me... 😡

www.theguardian.com

Britons with Indian-made AstraZeneca vaccine face extra EU travel hurdle

EU vaccine passport scheme omits Covishield jab, despite it offering same protection as UK-made one
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com

Edit: Apologies, I missed Dirky’s thread.
 
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Yep , me and my wife both affected by this. Have a holiday abroad booked for November , and as things stand we'll be refused entry .
 
I doubt that this will be enforced by many, if any EU countries.
They are more likely to inflict quarantines on UK travellers.
France, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece all rely heavily on the tourist industry
 
Archibald Knox said:
Up to 5 million British travellers hoping to visit Europe this summer face an extra hurdle as it emerged that those vaccinated with Indian-manufactured AstraZeneca jabs would not automatically skip quarantine.

Under the EU vaccine passport scheme, people given the AstraZeneca jab produced by the Serum Institute of India (SII) would not automatically avoid quarantine and mandatory testing when travelling in Europe.

The SII jab, known as Covishield, offers the same protection as the British-made one, but the company has not sought approval from the European Medicines Agency. The EU vaccine passport, launched on Thursday to ease travel in the 30-country European Economic Area, only recognises jabs approved by the European regulator.

Check your NHS vaccination card. The 5 million AZ doses excluded by the EU scheme had the batch numbers 4120Z001, 4120Z002, 4120Z003. Most were given in March to those aged over 50.

Including me... 😡

www.theguardian.com

Britons with Indian-made AstraZeneca vaccine face extra EU travel hurdle

EU vaccine passport scheme omits Covishield jab, despite it offering same protection as UK-made one
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
Click to expand...
Headline scaremongering. Reading the articles in more depth, lots of countries have already dismissed that as being a factor so just check before setting off in case.
 
Archibald Knox said:
Up to 5 million British travellers hoping to visit Europe this summer face an extra hurdle as it emerged that those vaccinated with Indian-manufactured AstraZeneca jabs would not automatically skip quarantine.

Under the EU vaccine passport scheme, people given the AstraZeneca jab produced by the Serum Institute of India (SII) would not automatically avoid quarantine and mandatory testing when travelling in Europe.

The SII jab, known as Covishield, offers the same protection as the British-made one, but the company has not sought approval from the European Medicines Agency. The EU vaccine passport, launched on Thursday to ease travel in the 30-country European Economic Area, only recognises jabs approved by the European regulator.

Check your NHS vaccination card. The 5 million AZ doses excluded by the EU scheme had the batch numbers 4120Z001, 4120Z002, 4120Z003. Most were given in March to those aged over 50.

Including me... 😡

www.theguardian.com

Britons with Indian-made AstraZeneca vaccine face extra EU travel hurdle

EU vaccine passport scheme omits Covishield jab, despite it offering same protection as UK-made one
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
Click to expand...
I can still go, but none of my family. Result😉
 
BigHandsOliverKahn said:
Headline scaremongering. Reading the articles in more depth, lots of countries have already dismissed that as being a factor so just check before setting off in case.
Click to expand...
I would not accuse the Guardian of EU scaremongering... the Telegraph and Express, emphatically yes.
However, there is also a BBC article in which their pundit, Prof Adam Finn, says it was an "administrative hurdle".

Finn said “We're in the early days of this new world of needed vaccine passports and there are lots of aspects of this that are still being sorted out for the first time. But it's clearly, ultimately not in anyone's interest, including the European Union, to create hurdles that don't need to be there."

The EU does not currently accept the UK's NHS app for Covid certification but a UK government spokesman said it will be "a key service" as international travel is reopened. The NHS app is already being accepted by individual countries including Spain and Greece. ***** For those with smartphones *****

So, it should get sorted but when is the question. I will not be surprised if the dastardly Macron delays and procrastinates for weeks or months just to give British travellers added inconvenience. I would not plan to travel to France at all before the end of August.
 
Archibald Knox said:
I would not accuse the Guardian of EU scaremongering... the Telegraph and Express, emphatically yes.
However, there is also a BBC article in which their pundit, Prof Adam Finn, says it was an "administrative hurdle".

Finn said “We're in the early days of this new world of needed vaccine passports and there are lots of aspects of this that are still being sorted out for the first time. But it's clearly, ultimately not in anyone's interest, including the European Union, to create hurdles that don't need to be there."

The EU does not currently accept the UK's NHS app for Covid certification but a UK government spokesman said it will be "a key service" as international travel is reopened. The NHS app is already being accepted by individual countries including Spain and Greece. ***** For those with smartphones *****

So, it should get sorted but when is the question. I will not be surprised if the dastardly Macron delays and procrastinates for weeks or months just to give British travellers added inconvenience. I would not plan to travel to France at all before the end of August.
Click to expand...
Before the end of August was extraneous to the sentence 😉
 
Until going abroad on holiday becomes a normal experience devoid of mentions of jabs, masks, quarantine, traffic light systems and social distancing I'm not going to bother.
And having a holiday in the UK is totally not what I want but just having to make the best of a shit situation.
 
Archibald Knox said:
I would not accuse the Guardian of EU scaremongering... the Telegraph and Express, emphatically yes.
However, there is also a BBC article in which their pundit, Prof Adam Finn, says it was an "administrative hurdle".

Finn said “We're in the early days of this new world of needed vaccine passports and there are lots of aspects of this that are still being sorted out for the first time. But it's clearly, ultimately not in anyone's interest, including the European Union, to create hurdles that don't need to be there."

The EU does not currently accept the UK's NHS app for Covid certification but a UK government spokesman said it will be "a key service" as international travel is reopened. The NHS app is already being accepted by individual countries including Spain and Greece. ***** For those with smartphones *****

So, it should get sorted but when is the question. I will not be surprised if the dastardly Macron delays and procrastinates for weeks or months just to give British travellers added inconvenience. I would not plan to travel to France at all before the end of August.
Click to expand...
France are also accepting the NHS app.
 
As an aside, why are we importing at least 5 million doses from India while sending vaccines to India?
 
Yep includes me too 🤣
Maybe I should be more concerned but no plans to go to any EU destinations this year anyway so what will be .....
 
Wizaard said:
As an aside, why are we importing at least 5 million doses from India while sending vaccines to India?
Click to expand...

Are we sending vaccines to India? We helped them set up production (and the 5m we got was part of that arrangement) but I don't think we've sent actual vaccines to them.

IIRC the 5m was back in Feb/March, so even if we'd spotted this (potential) problem we still wouldn't have said no to them.
 
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