Indian vaccine: people inoculated with Covaxin have restrictions on traveling as tourists

This Friday, the governor of the province of Buenos Aires, Axel Kicillof, indicated to have signed an agreement with the laboratory Bharat Biotech in India which includes the supply of up to 15 million of its Covaxin vaccines. The doses will be made available to the national government, as published by the Governor of Buenos Aires.

The Covaxin COVID-19 vaccine was cleared in India in January this year, after demonstrating 81% efficacy after successfully passing Phase III studies. It is the most used to immunize the population of this Asian country.

Two weeks ago, we learned that Spain, the second largest tourist destination in the world before the pandemic, will allow anyone vaccinated against Covid-19 to enter its territory from June 7.

According to various media in India – such as the Hindustian Times and The Times of India – people who have been vaccinated with the two doses of Covaxin still cannot travel abroad, or at least to most Western destinations. The vaccine has not yet been included in the World Health Organization (WHO) Emergency Use List (EUL).

A few weeks ago, it was learned that several European countries would begin to reopen their borders to tourists, in order to stimulate the travel and tourism industry. Each country’s regulations for entry of travelers are expected to be based on recommendations from their respective ministries of health or to allow entry only to people vaccinated with doses manufactured by companies listed on the WHO EUL list.

On the contrary, the other vaccine made in India, Covishield, which is produced at the Serum Institute of India, is on the WHO list. The international health organization has already included in this list the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine, two AstraZeneca vaccines (produced by AstraZeneca-SKBio in Korea and the Serum Institute of India), the vaccine developed by Janssen (Johnson & Johnson). It also approved the Moderna vaccine and included the Sinopharm vaccine from China.

The Emergency Use List (EUL) procedure is used to assess the suitability of new medical devices during public health emergencies. The aim is to make medicines, vaccines and diagnostic tests available as quickly as possible to deal with the emergency, “while respecting strict criteria of safety, efficacy and quality. The assessment weighs the threat posed by the emergency and the benefit that would result from the use of the product in question against any potential risk, ”the WHO reported.

According to the WHO, the entry of the Covaxin vaccine on the list will be reviewed in June. In this way, people vaccinated with the two doses of Covaxin would, for the moment, be in a similar situation to those who were immunized with the Russian vaccine Sputnik V.

Two weeks ago, we learned that Spain, the second largest tourist destination in the world before the pandemic, would allow anyone vaccinated against Covid-19 to enter its territory as of June 7, but with the requirement that it is approved by World Health. Organization or the European Medicines Agency (EMA). With this decision, for now, Argentines already immunized with the Russian vaccine Sputnik V were excluded.

In the case of Spain, those who received only one dose of AstraZeneca are also excluded, as the measure only concerns tourists who have the full vaccination schedule, with two doses.

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