Swtizerland, along with 7 EU countries, add Covishield on their list of approved vaccines

The announcement comes just a day after India had urged the EU to exempt those vaccinated with Covishield and Covaxin from travel curbs within member states.

Switzerland along with seven European Union (EU) nations namely Austria, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Slovenia, and Spain have approved the Serum Institute of India (SII)-manufactured Covishield vaccine.

As per sources familiar with the matter Estonia, a member of the EU, has confirmed that it would recognize all vaccines authorized by the Government of India for traveling purposes.

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On June 30, India had told EU members that the exclusion of Covishield, as well as Covaxin, would end up forcing the country to implement mandatory quarantine rules for EU citizens.

Vaxzevria, which is manufactured by AstraZeneca is an approved European Medicines Agency (EMA) vaccine and persons inoculated with it can receive a Green Pass. However, Covishield has not yet been approved even though it is manufactured by AstraZeneca’s partner SII. Covishield is largely being administered in India and several low and middle-income nations.

The CEO and Chairman of SII, Adar Poonawalla had expressed his confidence in receiving the approval for Covishield within a month by the EU.

Starting from July 1, the EU Digital Covid Certificate or Green Pass framework is set to allow free movement of fully vaccinated people among member states. Under this, individuals who have received EMA-approved COVID-19 vaccines will be exempted from travel restrictions with the EU. Moreover, individual member states have the flexibility of accepting COVID-19 vaccines that are either authorized at the national level or by the World Health Organization (WHO).

In addition, India had asked EU members to accept the vaccination certificate issued through the CoWIN portal.