After India reacted sharply to the exclusion of Covishield and Covaxin in the EU Green Pass, and even warned of exacting reciprocal treatment to European Union citizens if it did not accept its vaccines the same way it did AstraZeneca, came the clarifications and finally the recognition of Covishield by EU member states.
It had hardly been a day of relief to Europe bound vaccinated Indians, that the news of Covishield getting 'recognised' came with a fine print. As it turns out, Covishield getting acceptance is not the same thing as EU Green Pass. German Ambassador to India Walter J Lindner in a social media post, said, "Confirming that a double shot of Covishield is fully recognised by GER as valid proof of anti-Covid vaccination (this does nevertheless not modify existing travel or visa restrictions for travellers from areas of concern/virus variant areas)."
Recognition with restrictions
What appears nothing short of a discriminatory practice to an Indian is a tricky balance, between opening up economies and keeping people safe, to Germany.
"If you see the big picture, the numbers in the world of the virus they go down. We have some pockets where they are still going up. But where things are not closer to normalisation is where there are variants, these alpha, beta, gamma, delta, delta plus. They are causing problems and raising eyebrows everywhere in the world. A lot of countries have posed travel restrictions to fight against it," he said in an interview to Mojo Story while clarifying what does it mean to 'recognise' Covishield if the restrictions were to be still in place.
He added, "This is the balance we have to strike. Which India also did and a lot of other countries too. On one side to keep the country open, the economy going, students flowing back and forth. On the other side to protect the population, not just the German citizens but Indians who live in Germany. This balance is a continuous one."
'Only way to prevent massive influx of new mutants'
While accepting that travel ban was a 'harsh measure' he defended the stance on public safety and medical grounds. "Travel ban is a harsh measure but health experts say this is the only way to prevent massive influx of new mutants of the virus. As long as we do not have enough data and studies are not yet totally reliable about the vaccine protection, transmissibility, etc. It's a complicated matter that we consider many possibilities of travelling but for some countries there are some restrictions."
Isn't AstraZeneca the same as Covishield?
When asked about the one thing that's been unsettling everyone concerned, as to why AstraZeneca and Covishield be considered any different in the protection they offer against the variant, he said for Germany, Covishield and AstraZeneca were the same.
"There is no difference, that's why we put it out on social media that for us they are both the same. But it doesn't imply that you can as Indian citizen now travel to Europe. Every European country has the free decision and will to decide this. For us both AstraZeneca and Covishield are WHO approved vaccines and it's the same. With Covaxin it's different. Once it is approved by the WHO then we will see what's the next step."
He also said, no matter who went to Germany, two weeks of quarantine was mandatory for everyone. Further citing his own example when he travelled to Germany sometime back for a friend's funeral and had to do the mandatory quarantine.
He also said that there is no one common expert opinion on the efficacy of vaccine against the Delta variant. He also said that it's true that studies show that vaccine does offer protection against hospitalisations and deaths when it comes to delta variant, but, "It's not only that you get infected but you infect other people too. Maybe you get a very mild infection, but you could translate that to those not vaccinated."
Pointing out the lack of one common expert opinion on the efficiency of vaccines against the delta variant, he said, "Once we get it, we hope to lift restrictions."
If India's stance is anything to go by, then tomorrow India could say and do the same thing. Introducing mandatory quarantines for people coming from EU member states. To which he says, "it's not a question of reciprocity, it's a medical opinion of experts. Point is we impose quarantine for everyone who comes from those countries which are very high in mutation quantity."
