British govt refuses to accept Indian vaccinations, India warns of ‘reciprocal measures’
Even after receiving both doses of Covishield, Indians will be considered ‘unvaccinated’ & will have to undergo quarantine in UK. This ‘discrimination’ has emerged as a fresh irritant in bilateral ties.
The UK government’s decision to not accept Covishield as Covid’s official vaccine is “discriminatory” and is within the “right to retaliate and take reciprocal measures” if the issue is not resolved, India said today.
The issue was raised by Foreign Minister S Jaishankar during a meeting with his British counterpart Liz Truss ahead of the UN General Assembly in New York on Monday.
The issue of vaccination has already become a source of frustration in bilateral relations as Indians who have received both doses of Covishield, a local version of the British vaccine site AstraZeneca, will be considered ‘unvaccinated’ and will have to quarantine for ten days under the new British rules.
Foreign Secretary Harsh Shringla told a media briefing on Tuesday that India could consider setting “retaliatory measures” for countries that do not accept national vaccination certificates.
The basic issue, says Shringla, is that Covishield is a licensed product of a UK-based company in India, and five million doses of the vaccine have been given to Britain at the request of the UK government and used by the National Health Service.
Under the new law, only those who have received dual immunizations such as AstraZeneca, Pfizer, or Moderna or one Janssen vaccine “under the UK, Europe, US or UK overseas immunization program” are considered to have been vaccinated. completely.
According to the extended list, people vaccinated by public health agencies in Australia, Antigua, and Barbuda, Barbados, Bahrain, Brunei, Canada, Dominica, Israel, Japan, Kuwait, Malaysia, New Zealand, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea or Taiwan will be considered completely vaccinated.
