Belgium recognises Indian-made Covishield vaccine

Belgium has recognised the Covishield vaccine produced by the Serum Institute of India (SII) and developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University, said the Embassy of Belgium in India on Friday.

"Belgium recognises Covishield, the @AstraZeneca vaccine produced by @SerumInstIndia and distributed by COVAX. An important decision for India, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Bangladesh in the fight against vaccine inequality," Belgium in India tweeted.

Earlier this week, the Netherlands approved the Covishield vaccine for travellers.

Meanwhile, Switzerland, Iceland and seven EU countries have also allowed the SII-manufactured Oxford-Astrazeneca vaccine on July 1, a day after external affairs minister S Jaishankar said he had taken up with the European bloc to accept COVID-19 vaccines, Covishield and Covaxin.

According to sources, Austria, Germany, Slovenia, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Estonia and Spain have confirmed accepting Covishield for travel entry. Switzerland has also allowed Covishield for the Schengen state.

Estonia has confirmed that it will recognize all the vaccines authorized by the Government of India for the travel of Indians to Estonia, said sources.

India had requested EU member states to individually consider extending exemption to those persons who have taken Covishield and Covaxin and said it will institute a reciprocal policy for recognition of the EU Digital COVID Certificate, according to sources.

( With inputs from ANI )