
After India's warning, UK approves Covishield but says no to CoWIN certificate
New Delhi/IBNS: India's warning has prompted the United Kingdom to approve Serum Institute of India (SII)'s anti-COVID-19 vaccine, Covishield, but questions have been raised over the CoWIN certificate, in what could further escalate the bilateral tension.
The UK Wednesday revised its travel advisory and included Covishield in the list of vaccines accepted in the country.
However, travellers from India will have to get quarantined upon reaching the UK despite getting vaccinated with Covishield.
India Tuesday iterated its "right to take reciprocal measures" over the UK government's "discriminatory" decision to not recognise Covishield if the matter was not resolved.
The vaccine in question has been developed by the University of Oxford and Swedish pharma giant AstraZeneca and has been manufactured in India by SII under the name of Covishield.
India's vaccination drive, launched in January 2021, is driven by three vaccines -Covishield, Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech and Indian Council of Medical Research joint collaboration - Covaxin - and Russia's Sputnik V.
The new rules issued by UK authorities on COVID-19 restrictions will be effective from Oct 4.