Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said that indigenous anti-Covid-19 vaccines – Covishield and Covaxin – have now been accepted by 96 countries across the world, with them agreeing to mutual recognition of the coronavirus vaccination certificates with India.
“The World Health Organization has included 8 vaccines in EUL (emergency use listing) so far. We are happy that two out of these are Indian vaccines – Covaxin and Covishield…96 countries of the world have recognised both these vaccines following this,” Mandaviya said in New Delhi.
He said that the central government continues to be in communication with the rest of the countries so that beneficiaries of the world’s largest vaccination programme – in India – are recognised and accepted, thereby relaxing travel restrictions for education, business and tourism purposes.
“At present, 96 countries have agreed to mutual recognition of vaccination certificates and also those who recognise Indian vaccination certificates of travellers fully vaccinated with Covishield/WHO approved/nationally approved Covid vaccines,” Mandaviya said.
The 96 countries include Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Belgium, Ireland, The Netherlands, Spain, Bangladesh, Mali, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Angola, Nigeria, Benin, Chad, Hungary, Serbia, Poland, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece, Finland, Estonia, Romania, Moldova, Albania, The Czech Republic, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Sweden, Austria, Montenegro, and Iceland.
Eswatini, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Malawi, Botswana, Namibia, Kyrgyz Republic, Belarus, Armenia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Georgia, Andorra, Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, Maldives, Comoros, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Peru, Jamaica, the Bahamas, and Brazil have also agreed for mutual recognition of Covid-19 vaccination certificates with India.
Persons travelling from these countries are given certain relaxations as laid out by the Union Health Ministry’s guidelines for international arrivals, as per the order issued on October 20 this year.
“For those who wish to travel abroad, the international travel vaccination certificate can also be downloaded from the CoWIN portal,” the ministry informed.
Guyana, Antigua and Barbuda, Mexico, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Columbia, Trinidad & Tobago, Commonwealth of Dominica, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Nepal, Iran, Lebanon, State of Palestine, Syria, South Sudan, Tunisia, Sudan, Egypt, Australia, Mongolia, and Philippines are the other countries who have accepted Indian vaccines.
“The Ministry of Health along with the Ministry of External Affairs is in continuous communication with all countries for mutual recognition of vaccine certificates, and WHO and nationally-approved vaccines to facilitate hassle-free international travel across countries. The Union government’s commitment to accelerate the pace and expanding the scope of Covid-19 vaccination throughout the country has resulted in crossing the 100 crore milestone in administration of doses on October 21,” Mandaviya said, according to news agency PTI.
Meanwhile, the cumulative vaccine doses administered in India so far has crossed 109.08 crore.
