Will Indians vaccinated with Covishield denied EU entry?
Representational picture  Key Highlights European Council will issue digital covid certificate to restore freedom of movement, which will be officially implemented on July 1, 2021 Only Four vaccines given approval for green pass namely: Vaxzevria (Oxford-AstraZeneca), Comirnaty (Pfizer-BioNTech), Spikevax (Moderna) and Janssen(Johnson & Johnson SII CEO Adar Poonawalla says 'hopeful' of getting EMA approval in next few weeks  Come July 1, the European Council will be issuing digital covid certificates which will allow one to freely travel. The pass will be proof of a person who is immunized, has tested covid negative, or has received a vaccine. Unfortunately, the Serum Institute of India's (SII) Covishield has been denied the European Union's green pass- which means that people who have taken the vaccine will not be eligible for unrestricted movement in the EU. SII CEO Adar Poonawalla has assured that he has taken up the matter at the highest levels with the EU regulator and said that he is hopeful of receiving the approval soon. On Monday, Poonawala tweeted,  "I realise that a lot of Indians who have taken COVISHIELD are facing issues with travel to the E.U., I assure everyone, I have taken this up at the highest levels and hope to resolve this matter soon, both with regulators and at a diplomatic level with countries." (sic)  Experts believe that this may just be a matter of delay in paperwork however, the authorities need to wake up from their slumber sooner than later. Murali Neelakantan, Principal Lawyer, Amicus says that putting a system in place is key for this process. "The Indian government and SII should've made comments 6 months ago when we knew the Green Pass system is coming up and IT systems were set up, and not a week before it's set to roll out. An IT system needs to be in place to keep track of certificates and to ensure that they are credible and acceptable", he added. But what really raised eyebrows was the fact that Covishield's twin vaccine-Vaxzevria, which is manufactured in the UK by Oxford-AstraZeneca, has made the cut. Now, SII's Covishield has already received approval from WHO, it is also part of the global COVAX alliance. Dr Tanmay Mahapatra, Epidemiologist says that there shouldn't be politics at play when it comes to the vaccination drive. "If one has permission the other should be given too. If both are using the same formula then there shouldn't be any disparity because ultimately, we are dealing with vaccine efficacy and have at hand a disease that is spreading faster than politics. Covishield needs to be given equal validity and approval" he said. Sources tell ET Now that SII has applied to EMA for Covishield to be included in the list of approved vaccines. Since both the vaccines have similar immunogenicity and antibodies and even WHO has not made distinctions between the two, the issue could be resolved sooner. India's Policy thus far on International travel is such that one would need a verified vaccine certificate to travel. The authorities have allowed Indians to link vaccine updates from the CoWIN portal with their passport. However, the International travel ban from India is still in place till June 30 with exceptions made for a few countries.