UK govt's Covid norms for Indians lack scientific basis: AIIMS Chief

Despite approving Covishield, UK said that fully vaccinated visitors from India will still need to quarantine

As the United Kingdom government has been receiving backlash for its "discriminatory" Covid norms for visitors arriving from India, All India Institute of Medical Sciences(AIIMS) Chief Dr Randeep Guleria criticised the UK government for setting different rules for Indians fully vaccinated with Covishield that was invented in the UK itself, and said it lacked scientific basis.

"This does not make sense. The vaccine was developed by a UK scientist in Cambridge. It was then given to AstraZeneca, which licensed it to Serum Institute of India… Britain's norms for Indian nationals are peculiar. They seem to lack scientific basis," Dr Guleria told NDTV.

On September 22, the UK government had announced that people who have been vaccinated with Covishield, the Indian-made version of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid vaccine, will be considered fully vaccinated by the UK government, however, that does not necessarily include Indians.

Also read: Confusion reigns over Covishield on UK's travel advisory as India not on eligibility list

Despite approving Covishield, fully vaccinated travelers from India will still need to be quarantined and take mandatory tests upon arrival.

The UK government had said that it will consider international travelers to be fully vaccinated only if they have taken the approved vaccines in Australia, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Bahrain, Brunei, Canada, Dominica, Israel, Japan, Kuwait, Malaysia, New Zealand, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, or Taiwan. Quaruanting by travellers from these countries will not be required.

The exclusion of India from the non-quarantine list had many Indians questioning as to why this move was made, despite India housing the manufacturing unit of Covishield.

Reacting to the same, the British High Commission spokesperson told ANI that it was working on expanding the UK's recognition of vaccine certification by relevant public health bodies.

"The UK is continuing to work on expanding the policy to countries and territories across the globe in a phased approach. We are continuing to engage with the Government of India on technical cooperation to expand UK recognition of vaccine certification to people vaccinated by a relevant public health body in India" the spokesperson told ANI.

India retaliates to UK

Retaliating to the UK’s norms for Indian visitors, the Indian government on October 1, stated that it would require visitors from the UK to quarantine themselves regardless of their vaccination status.

Also read: Delhi retaliates against UK's refusal to recognise Covishield vaccination certificates

The retaliatory measures imposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government will require all UK citizens, including the ones already vaccinated, to undergo pre-departure Covid-19 RT-PCR tests within 72 hours before travelling to India.

The visitors will also have to undergo Covid-19 RT-PCR tests immediately after arriving at any airport, as well as on the eighth day after arrival in India.