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Updated October 1st, 2021 at 13:39 IST

Australia recognises India's Covishield & China's Coronavac for international travellers

Australia will consider India's Covishield (AstraZeneca/SII) and China's Coronavac (Sinovac) as 'recognised vaccines' for incoming travellers, said PM Morrison

Australia, Covishield
IMAGE: PTI/AP | Image:self
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In a big win for India's Covishield, Australian PM Scott Morrison on Friday, announced that Australia will consider India's Covishield (AstraZeneca/SII) and China's Coronavac (Sinovac) as 'recognised vaccines' for incoming travellers. Announcing his government's 'Reopen to the world' plan, Morrison said that Australia will allow fully vaccinated Australians and others to enter the country, but will have to undergo a seven-day home quarantine initially. Australia uses COVID vaccines of Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca for inoculating its population and recognises Covishield and Coronavac additionally.

Australia recognises Covishield

Morrison informed that Australia's vaccination rates are at over 78 per cent and double dose rates nationwide at 55 per cent, aiming to reach 70 per cent in some jurisdictions over the next week. 

To enable fully vaccinated Australians to travel under Phase B, his government has mandated:

  • Seven day home quarantine for Australian citizens and permanent residents fully vaccinated with a vaccine approved for use in Australia or ‘recognised’ by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA)
  • 14-day managed quarantine for anyone not vaccinated or vaccinated with a vaccine not approved or recognised by the TGA.
  • Australian citizens and permanent residents who cannot be vaccinated - for example if they are under 12 or have a medical condition - will be treated as vaccinated for the purposes of their travel.

In the next Phase, the 14-day managed quarantine caps apply to unvaccinated arrivals and all travel caps on vaccinated Australians will be removed, in consultation with the states. Once both level of changes are completed by November, all travel restrictions will be removed on Australians entering or leaving its shores. Recognition of China's Coronavac comes amid a trade war between the two nations as Australia sought a probe into COVID-19 origins in China. Similarly, Covishield's recognition comes after PM Modi's push for vaccine equity at the UN General Assembly.

Covishield recognition

While Australia has recognised India's vaccine, UK is facing massive backlash from Indians after its new travel regulations mandated countries including UAE, India, Turkey, Jordan, Thailand, Russia to be treated as unvaccinated. Passengers who aren’t recognized as being fully vaccinated with authorized vaccines and certificates under England’s international travel rules will still have to take a pre-departure test, a day 2 and day 8 PCR test, and self-isolate for 10 days. Amid backlash, UK revised its travel advisory accepting Covishield as an 'approved vaccine', but Indians will still have to undergo mandatory quarantine upon their arrival as the advisory has not mentioned India as a country with a recognised public healthy body giving certification. Moreover, UK is currently sorting out technical certification issues with India's Co-WIN certification developers. Covishield has been recognised Austria, Germany, France, Slovenia, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Switzerland and Estonia.

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Published October 1st, 2021 at 13:39 IST

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