President of the 76th session of the UN General Assembly Abdulla Shahid said on Friday, 1 October, that he has taken two doses of the Covishield vaccine manufactured in India and added that so have a large portion of other countries around the world.
Responding to a question on whether any COVID vaccine should be recognised and considered or only the ones that have been validated by the WHO or any other group, Shahid said, “on vaccines, that’s a very technical question you have asked me. I got Covishield from India, I’ve got the two doses. I don’t know how many countries would say that Covishield is acceptable or not, but the large portion of the countries have got Covishield", news agency PTI reported.
“And I’ve survived. But let someone else, a medical person make that call, not me,” he added with a laugh.
Though the UK had initially refused to recognise Covishield, which was developed by the British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca. After facing criticism by India, the country on 22 September amended its new guidelines and included the vaccine.
However, that did not provide relief to fully vaccinated Indians travelling to the UK, for they would still have to undergo a 10-day quarantine.
UK officials have said that they have a problem with the vaccine certification process and not with the Covishield vaccine.
Meanwhile, India has exported over 66 million vaccine doses to nearly 100 countries through grants, commercial shipments, and the COVAX facility, out of which Maldives, Shahid’s home country has received a total of 3.12 lakh doses of made-in-India COVID vaccines, PTI reported.
Shahid’s comments come amid India's reciprocal curbs against all British nationals arriving in the country, who will have to undergo 10-day mandatory quarantine.
(With inputs from PTI)
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