Vaccinated Indian? These are the countries you can travel to with Covaxin & Covishield

Around 96 nations have agreed to mutually recognise vaccine certificates of fully vaccinated travellers with India, bringing a solution to people wishing to travel overseas.

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, Moldova, Albania, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Sweden, Austria, Montenegro, and Iceland are among the 96 countries travellers from India will be able to fly to.

Canada, however, does not yet recognise Covaxin as Bharat Biotech, the vaccine developer is still yet to file an application with all data and proof linked to the clinical studies.

“At present, 96 countries have agreed to mutual recognition of vaccine certificates and also those who recognise Indian vaccination certificates of travellers fully vaccinated with Covishield/WHO approved/nationally approved vaccines,” a statement of the Health Ministry said.

Around 96 countries recognise vaccine certificates of fully vaccinated travellers from India

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya announced the decision on Tuesday. According to the Health Ministry, anyone who wishes to go abroad can acquire an international travel vaccine certificate using the CoWIN portal. The announcement comes a day after the UK said that as of November 22, India's Covaxin vaccine will be recognised as an authorised COVID-19 vaccination for inbound travel. The World Health Organization (WHO) added Covaxin to a growing list of vaccines recognised by the organisation for preventing Covid-19 on November 3.

Covaxin EUL and air-bubble agreement

Vaccinated travellers have been permitted in the United States since November 8. On November 4, the WHO's Technical Advisory Group (TAG), an independent advisory committee, recommended that Bharat Biotech's COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin be given Emergency Use Listing (EUL) status, putting an end to months of debate over a decision that will have a significant impact on Indians' travel rights. Around 28 nations have entered air-bubble agreements with India, including the United States, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Kenya, Bhutan, and France.

Countries not accepting COVID vaccine Covaxin

Special international flights can be flown by their airlines with particular constraints under an air-bubble agreement between two countries. Indians who have taken Covaxin can only go to Oman, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, according to the air bubble accords. There are now various countries to which Indians who have been injected with Covaxin are unable to fly directly. These are some of them:

• Greece
• Australia
• Philippines
• Mauritius
• Philippines
• Mexico
• Canada

(IMAGE: PTI / REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE)