E-Paper
Covid-19 pandemic: Australia opens door to Indians vaccinated with Covaxin
The decision to recognise Covaxin came a month after Australia gave its nod to Covishield. The move is set to benefit Indian students and professionals waiting to visit Australia or return to the country
Australia on Monday said Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin vaccine would be a recognised vaccine for international travellers as part of the country’s efforts to safely open up travel.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) of Australia said both Covaxin and BBIBP-CorV , manufactured by China’s Sinopharm, “would be ‘recognised’ for the purpose of establishing a traveller’s vaccination status”.
The move is expected to benefit thousands of Indian students and professionals waiting to join educational courses or return to jobs in Australia.
“This will have significant impacts for the return of international students, and travel of skilled and unskilled workers to Australia,” TGA said.
The recognition of Covaxin came exactly a month after TGA recognised Covishield, the Indian version of the AstraZeneca vaccine, for allowing international travellers into Australia.
The recognition for Covaxin will apply to travellers aged 12 and over vaccinated with the dose, TGA said. The body said it obtained additional information in recent weeks demonstrating that Covaxin provides protection and potentially reduces the “likelihood that an incoming traveller would transmit COVID-19 infection to others while in Australia or become acutely unwell due to COVID-19”.
This information was provided to TGA from the vaccine’s sponsor “and/or the World Health Organisation”.
Covaxin is currently awaiting emergency use authorisation by WHO.
TGA further said, “Importantly, recognition of Covaxin, and BBIBP-CorV, along with the previously announced recognition of Coronavac (manufactured by Sinovac, China) and Covishield (manufactured by AstraZeneca, India), means many citizens of China and India as well as other countries in our region where these vaccines have been widely deployed will now be considered fully vaccinated on entry to Australia.”
Australian officials had earlier said that foreign students, including Indians, will be able to start returning towards the end of this year and the beginning of 2022, ahead of the start of the first semester in February-March.
India is the second largest source of foreign students in Australia, behind China. During 2019-20, Indian students contributed $6.6 billion to the Australian economy.
