Serum Institute of India chief Adar Poonawalla on Monday promised to work towards easing EU travel issues for Indians, who had received both doses of Covishield.
Poonwalla, who’s currently in London, tweeted, “I realise that a lot of Indians who have taken COVISHIELD are facing issues with travel to the E.U., I assure everyone, I have taken this up at the highest levels and hope to resolve this matter soon, both with regulators and at a diplomatic level with countries.”
I realise that a lot of Indians who have taken COVISHIELD are facing issues with travel to the E.U., I assure everyone, I have taken this up at the highest levels and hope to resolve this matter soon, both with regulators and at a diplomatic level with countries.
— Adar Poonawalla (@adarpoonawalla) June 28, 2021
No sooner did Poonawalla share his tweet, netizens began to pose questions to the external affairs ministry. Activist Saket Gokhale wrote, “This statement should’ve come from @DrSJaishankar who allegedly is India’s foreign minister. It is NOT Mr. Poonawalla’s responsibility to conduct diplomacy. If Jaishankar is done globetrotting & making propaganda toolkits, he should think about doing the job he’s paid for.”
Twitter user Siddharth Setia asked, “Isn’t this something the Govt of India should be doing?”
The European Union has introduced ‘Green Pass’ for allowing the visits by foreign tourists from 1 July. So far, the EU health regulator, European Medicines Agency, has only approved four vaccines namely Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, Vaxzervria (AstraZeneca) and Janssen (Johnson & Johnson). India’s Covishield, manufactured by Poonawalla’s company doesn’t include the list of the EU’s approved vaccines.
The topic has recently gained momentum with actor Alia Bhatt’s mother, Soni Razdan, taking to Twitter to express her frustration over the EU’s decision. She had written, “This is nothing short of disgusting and I’m wondering what kind of politics has brought this on. The @WHO must intervene immediately.”