Australia to ease international travel restrictions; gives approval to Covishield
There is good news for anyone who has been vaccinated against Covidshield and wants to travel to Australia. Australia has approved the vaccine, Covishield, manufactured by the Serum Institute. Australia on Friday announced Covishield, the Indian version of the AstraZeneca vaccine, as a ‘recognized vaccine’ for international travellers. Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) listed India’s Covishield and China’s CoronaVac (Sinovac) vaccine as “recognized vaccines” after evaluating safety data.
A statement jointly issued by Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and several ministers said that Covishield, created by the Serum Institute of India, and the Chinese vaccine, CoronaVac, is to be prescribed as appropriately immunized to incoming international travelers. Purposefully to be treated as a ‘recognized vaccine’. The announcement is likely to help those who have taken Covishield dose and are planning to travel to Australia.
The statement outlines the next steps Australia will take to safely reopen the world and the changes to the international border. ‘Our government is preparing a roadmap for what international travel will look like in the coming months’, the statement said. India has been pressing the Australian side to allow travel for Indian travellers, especially students wishing to attend courses at various universities and educational institutions. India is the second largest source of foreign students to Australia after China. Indian students contributed $6.6 billion to the Australian economy during 2019-20.
However, the Australian government’s statement indicates that Indian students will have to wait a little longer before being allowed to travel to Australia. Officials had earlier said that admission of foreign students to Australia is expected to begin by the end of the first semester in 2022. The Australian government plans to proceed with overseas travel only after 70% of the population has been fully vaccinated. More than 78 per cent of Australians have taken the first dose and the rate for the second dose is 55. It is believed that in some areas 70 percent of the people will be fully immunized in the next week.
In the initial stages the Australian Government will allow travel to reunite Australian families so that Australian workers can travel in and out. This decision of the government will also work towards allowing tourists.
