8 European Nations Include Covishield In Their Green Pass, Approve CoWin Digital Certificate

8 EU countries have included Serum Institute's Covishield in Green Passport.

Image Source: PTI

Amid the ongoing tussle between India and EU over providing 'green pass' to those vaccinated with Covishiled, eight European nations have accepted India’s Covishield in their ‘Green Pass’, that is, persons inoculated with Covishield will be allowed to travel to those nations.

The development has come after India had told EU nations that it would allow EU travelers in India without mandatory quarantine only on the basis of reciprocity. India had conveyed to the EU that they need to include India-made Covishield and Covaxin in their ‘Green Pass’ that comes into effect from July.

Eight EU States-Germany, Slovenia, Austria, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Spain and Switzerland have included Covishield in their list of approved vaccines.

Earlier,the Indian government has  urged the EU member counties to accept the vaccination certificate issued through India's CoWIN portal. The CoWIN portal is a digital platform India is using as part of its vaccination drive against the COVID. 

In a quid pro quo gesture, the offer includes "reciprocal recognition" of EU green pass if EU states agree with the above 2 proposals. This in effect means, travelers from the EU countries carrying the EU Digital Covid Certificate will be exempted from mandatory quarantine.

Earlier, the European Union countries had accepted only the vaccines approved by the European Medicines Agency, which are Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, and Janssen.

The European Union’s Digital Covid certificate framework to facilitate free movement during the Covid-19 pandemic is to come into effect on July 1.