The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine jabs made in India could mean you could not travel or go on holiday in Europe this year. Here’s how to check where your AstraZeneca vaccine was made.
More than five million people will be unable to go on holiday in Europe this summer after being given a batch of the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine that was manufactured in India.
As the AstraZeneca shot made in India are not yet recognized by the European Medicines Agency, meaning people who have received it won’t be able to cross the EU border.
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If you’re not sure which AZ vaccine you were given? Here’s how to check.
The EU’s passport scheme does not recognise batches of AstraZeneca that were produced in India and given out anywhere in the world.
The EU Digital Covid Certificate allows people to travel safely across Europe by acting as a Covid passport.
The scheme allows travellers to prove they’re fully vaccinated, have passed a pre-departure test or that they have already recovered from Covid in the last 180 days and has already been launched this week.
The Indian manufactured AstraZeneca shot has been given out generously in Asia and Africa as well as the UK, but only vaccines approved by the European Medicines Agency are accepted in the EU Digital Covid Certificate scheme.
And the only reason why it isn’t accepted by the EMA is to do with the Indian manufacturers failing to seek a license for the product in Europe.
Apparently, this is because the Serum Institute of India is mainly supplying their doses to low and middle-income countries.
How could you check where your AZ jab was manufactured
The only way to tell if your jab was made in India is by checking the batch number, which will be included in the Covid pass letter or certificate.
The pass letter is a letter showing your COVID-19 vaccination status and is meant to be used for travelling abroad or going to events where you need proof that you’ve had your vaccination.
You can get your certificate or pass letter if you’ve had two doses of the vaccine.
Once you’ve got your pass letter and know your batch number, you can compare it to the batch numbers of the Indian AstraZeneca shots.
The numbers of the batches not approved by the European Union are 4120Z001, 4120Z002 and 4120Z003.
But there is no actual difference between the two AstraZeneca vaccines, with the reason behind Covishield’s lack of approval by the EU regulator being that the Serum Institute did not seek approval in the EU.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Professor Finn added that the batches are “exactly the same stuff”.
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“We’re in the early days of this new world of needed vaccine passports and there are lots of aspects of this that are still being sorted out for the first time.
“But it’s clearly, ultimately not in anyone’s interest, including the European Union, to create hurdles that don’t need to be there.”
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