UK Travel Advisory: All Indians to be Treated as “Unvaccinated and Compulsorily Quarantined”

Manas Dasgupta

NEW DELHI, Sept 20: Even as the ruling BJP advised the opposition parties to maintain restrain in making “irresponsible” statements about the Central government’s Covid vaccination programme, two Congress Members of Parliament lambasted the United Kingdom government’s latest travel advisory to treat all Indians and some other nationals travelling to that country as “unvaccinated.”

The new travel advisory by the UK government said the people from India and a few other countries would be considered “unvaccinated” even after two doses of AstraZeneca’s “Covishield” (in use globally as Vaxzervria) and would have to undergo compulsory 10-day quarantine on arrival at the UK.

The new advisory has renewed controversy over freedom of international travel during the pandemic within hours of the BJP national president JP Nadda stating that the opposition parties should introspect over their “irresponsible” statements about the Covid vaccination programme of the Modi government that has proved to be the “biggest and fastest” in the world.

In a visit to a vaccination centre at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here, he congratulated and thanked a team of Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, State health ministers, medical fraternity and people for making the vaccination campaign a “success.”

While the BJP or the Modi government refrained from making any statement against the UK government’s latest decision that the opposition said smacked of “racism” and discrimination against India, two senior Congress leaders Shashi Tharoor and Jairam Ramesh spoke out against the UK government’s decision to consider people vaccinated in India, Africa, South America and several other countries as “unvaccinated” and make them go through a 10-day quarantine.

Tharoor, Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha MP, has pulled out of a debate at Cambridge Union and withdrawn from the events for the launch of the UK edition of his book “The Battle of Belonging.” Quoting a thread of tweets by UK news analyst Alex Macheras, Tharoor wrote: “Because of this I have pulled out of a debate at the @cambridgeunion & out of launch events for the UK edition of my book #TheBattleOfBelonging (published there as #TheStruggleForIndiasSoul). It is offensive to ask fully vaccinated Indians to quarantine. The Brits are reviewing!”

Rajya Sabha Congress MP Jairam Ramesh too termed the UK’s  new travel policy “absolutely bizarre.” Quoting the same thread, he wrote: “Absolutely bizarre considering Covishield was originally developed in the UK and The Serum Institute, Pune has supplied to that country too! This smacks of racism.” The new system is expected to stay in place in the UK for at least a year with the next review only scheduled for early 2022.

In a tweet thread from two days ago, Macheras wrote about the UK’s latest travel policy: “UK government confirm tonight that if a person has been vaccinated in Africa, or South America, or countries including UAE, India, Turkey, Jordan, Thailand, Russia… you are considered “unvaccinated” and must follow “unvaccinated” rules = 10 day home quarantine & tests.”

Under the new rules, people from India flying to the UK have to undergo a 10-day quarantine, during which period they will have to get tested for Covid-19 twice at their own expenses.

The new rules were announced by the UK government on Friday and would come into effect on October 4. Pointing out that he had cancelled multiple engagements because of the new rules, Tharoor said it was “offensive to ask fully vaccinated Indians to quarantine.”

The new rules reflect the UK’s decision to scrap its “amber” list from October 4. India is currently on that list and has not yet been moved to the expanded ‘green’ list – countries whose vaccines are recognised by the UK. The new rules said starting October 4, passengers not vaccinated under “approved programs in the UK (and UK overseas), Europe or US” must self-quarantine for 10 days as well as pay for two Covid tests. They can pay for an early test to be released from quarantine.

These rules exclude countries – such as Australia, Bahrain, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and South Korea – where the AstraZeneca vaccine is in use.

The new advisory is shocking considering that the same AstraZeneca vaccine is in use in India under the Indian brand name “Covishield” and manufactured by the Serum Institute of India under license from Oxford University/AstraZeneca. It is also of particular concern for India, where Covishield is the most widely used vaccine and its non-recognition by the UK (despite its government using the same drug under a different name) will hamper travel plans of students, tourists, business people and others vaccinated in the country.

Covishield already has EUA, or emergency use approval, status from the World Health Organization which has also agreed to consider recognition to the other widely-used vaccine in the country, Bharat Biotech’s “Covaxin,” by October 6.

The UK government’s decision comes despite over a dozen countries including European countries like France, Germany, Sweden, Netherlands and others having approved India-made “Covishield.” Fully vaccinated (with Covishield) individuals do not need to return a negative Covid test to enter these countries.

In July there was controversy over Covishield’s acceptance by the European Union as well. The EMA, or European Medical Agency, approved Vaxzervria but not Covishield, prompting the Indian government to warn that it would rescind the reciprocal authorization of the former. “Covishield” has been supplied to several African nations as part of the United Nations’ COVAX initiative.

The UK government’s shocking advisory has come even as India, the world’s largest vaccine producer, decided to resume exports and donations of surplus coronavirus vaccines in October after halting them during a devastating surge in domestic infections in April. The union health minister said on Monday that the surplus vaccines would be used to fulfill India’s “commitment towards the world for the collective fight against COVID-19,” but vaccinating Indians will remain the government’s “topmost priority.”