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The Portuguese island of Madeira has said it will allow entry to the five million Britons who have been given an Indian-made Covid-19 vaccine that has not been approved by Europe’s drug regulator.
The jab, a version of the AstraZeneca vaccine called Covishield, was last week excluded from Europe’s list of recognised manufacturers, leaving millions of Britons at risk of being turned away at EU border crossings.
But late on Sunday the autonomous island of Madeira, which is on the UK Government’s green list, said all worldwide vaccines would be accepted, not just the four approved by the European Medicines Agency. These would include Covishield, and China’s Sinovac and India’s Covaxin.
Pedro Ramos, Madeira’s health secretary, said all would be accepted “because if millions have been vaccinated with these vaccines (not approved by the EU), their level of protection is similar to others”.
The EU faced a backlash last week after making clear the Indian-made AstraZeneca vaccine, identifiable by its digital batch number, would not be accepted by its Covid travel pass.
Scroll down for more updates.
Government can’t ‘wash its hands’ of responsibility, PM warned, ahead of July 19 announcement today
The Government has been told it “can’t just wash its hands” of the responsibility to keep people safe, ahead of Boris Johnson’s announcement setting out plans to go ahead with the July 19 reopening today.
Unions and scientists have warned that the Prime Minister cannot move wholesale towards “personal responsibility” from Step Four, when potentially millions of people will return to their workplaces, without creating a framework for individuals and businesses to follow.
Paul Nowak, the deputy general secretary of the TUC, told Radio 4’s Today programme firms needed “clarity, consistency and time to prepare”, for when the work-from-home guidance would change.
“I don’t think it’s acceptable to outsource responsibilities to individuals and individual employers,” he added. ”Of course personal responsibility will have a role to play, but the Government can’t just wash its hands of this issue.”
Prof Stephen Reicher, a member of Sage, told Radio 4’s Today programme: ”If the Government hands over responsibility completely you are in trouble [because]… you begin to say it’s not important.”
Thai PM isolating after Phuket’s grand reopening
Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha will isolate at home for a week after he was exposed to a person who tested positive for coronavirus during reopening events in Phuket province on July 1.
The premier, who has received two AstraZeneca vaccine doses, will continue his work as usual, including closely following the coronavirus outbreak situation, according to Anucha Burapachaisri, a government spokesman.
Phuket’s reopening was a greatly-anticipated occasion for the country’s tourism industry, with Thailand accelerating a vaccine drive on the popular island so that it could reopen to overseas arrivals.
Will the EU digital Covid certificate allow travel abroad for Britons?
The EU app at the centre of the controversy of the Indian-produced AstraZeneca vaccine went live last week and is enabling Europeans to travel throughout the bloc free from restrictions.
But when will the UK have access to it?
Emma Featherstone answers your questions here.
Credit:
Reuters
Aviation bosses call on Javid to throw businesses a lifeline in easing travel restrictions
Over the weekend tourism and aviation bosses called on new Health Secretary Sajid Javid to throw businesses a lifeline by easing travel restrictions.
In a letter written by Tim Alderslade, head of trade body Airlines UK, they urged the Cabinet minister to expand the green list of foreign countries to which tourists can travel without having to quarantine on their return.
The letter noted that the UK is the third most internationally connected country in the world, and that the travel industry generates around £53 billion in domestic spending each year.
“The pandemic has been a catastrophe for our industry and the wider economy,” it said.
It added that international travel sustained 1.5 million jobs prior to the pandemic, but warned “hundreds of thousands of jobs have now been lost, and many more remain at risk”.
‘I had no idea what to expect on my pandemic gap year – or how long I could stay’
Despite the pandemic, twins Tilly and Christa Cripwell still managed to travel to Africa as volunteers on (separate) gap years. Here’s how…
Tilly writes:
“In order to travel legally during the pandemic, I needed to find legitimate and meaningful voluntary or educational projects with paperwork confirming these positions. Again, Milly Whitehead steered me perfectly – and soon I found myself flying to Tanzania to join a volunteering program in the city of Arusha.
“I had no idea what to expect – whether there would be other gap year travellers there, where I would be staying, or how long I would be there – but I was just happy to be travelling. It had already been far more stressful than I’d expected and for someone who is an avid planner, this was something I had seriously struggled with.
“I moved into a small house down the city’s back streets along with several other gap-year volunteers. The culture shock hit immediately: a night out involved being crammed into bars and nightclubs with no social distancing and face masks firmly out of the picture.”
The four vaccines approved by the EU
The EMA approved vaccines are Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, and the version of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine manufactured in the UK or Europe, which is sold under the brand name Vaxzevria.
“Entry into the EU should be allowed to people fully vaccinated with one of the vaccines authorised in the EU,” a spokesperson from the European Commission said. “Member States are… not required to issue certificates for a vaccine that is not authorised on their territory.”
The UK authorities have used the brand name Vaxzevria on all UK medical records where the AstraZeneca vaccine has been used, but up to five million doses are actually the Indian-made Covishield version. The doses remain identifiable by their batch numbers.
“For these purposes, the batch numbers; 4120Z001, 4120Z002, 4120Z003 of the SIIPL COVID‑19 Vaccine (ChAdOx1‑S [recombinant]) manufactured by Serum Institute India… were assessed and are treated as Covid-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca,” says an amendment made to the agreement between AstraZeneca and the UK regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Authority (MHRA), on February 23.
The EU vaccine passport will soon integrate with the Covid travel pass on the NHS app. By scanning a QR code, the EU system pulls up information including the traveller’s name, date of birth and vaccine details, including batch numbers.
Five stories to keep an eye on today
Good morning. Here are five stories we will be watching in the world of travel today:
- Five million Britons have vaccines not recognised by the EU
- Boris Johnson to announce plans for July 19 reopening
- US all-but declares end to its pandemic
- Hawaii asks for visitor numbers to be cut amid travel boom
- Government urged by travel industry to expand green list