Those who are travelling to the UAE should understand that the UAE approves AstraZeneca, and for that matter, Covishield is also approved in the UAE. Covaxin, however, is not yet approved in the UAE
Even though the UAE has allowed entry of Vaccinated expatriates to enter Dubai from August 5, there is confusion among Non-Resident-Indians (NRIs) about the approval of vaccines in the UAE.
A large number of NRIs employed in the UAE are stuck in India due to travel restrictions. Now when the UAE has relaxed travel norms for some countries, including India, there is confusion among the NRIs over the approval of vaccines.
India is inoculating its population with two vaccines – Bharat Biotech’s Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin and Covishield, AstraZeneca’s Indian version. Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII) is producing Covishield mainly for Indian consumption.
There are chances that Covaxin would get approval for Emergency Use Listing (EUL) by the World Health Organisation (WHO). In the beginning of July, the WHO had hinted at approving Covaxin for Emergency Use Listing in the first week of August.
Those travelling to the UAE should understand that the UAE approves AstraZeneca, and Covishield (AstraZeneca’s Indian version) is also approved in the UAE.
Covaxin, however, is not yet approved in the UAE.
There are chances that Covaxin would get approval for Emergency Use Listing (EUL) by the World Health Organisation (WHO). In the beginning of July, the WHO had hinted at approving Covaxin for Emergency Use Listing in the first week of August.
“We are working closely with the World Health Organisation (WHO) for inclusion of Covaxin in its Emergency Use Listing. Approval from WHO is not expected to be a long drawn process as cell line and the majority of our facilities have already been audited and approved by WHO for our other vaccines in the past,” Suchitra Ella, joint managing director of Bharat Biotech had said in a tweet.
So those who are planning to travel to Dubai should know that Covaxin does not come under the UAE approved vaccine list, and Covishield (AstraZeneca’s Indian version) is approved.