We Indians have a knack for travel, we love crisscrossing the boundaries, but since the pandemic has hit us our travelling wings have taken a back seat. With Vaccination drives now open for all adults, in most states a new hope of International travel has taken up a rise.According to a January 2021 report published in Firstpost, “tour operators and agencies are expected to incur a loss of almost Rs 35,000 crore” in the pandemic. As of 24th May 2021, India has completely vaccinated almost 4 crores of her population, with a great divide between the first dose and second dose. In total, around 19 crore dose has been injected so far. While the debate is still between which jab to take, Serum Institute of India’s (SII) Covishield (AstraZeneca) or Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin. There’s something that may worry those who have been vaccinated by Covaxin.Covaxin does not feature in the World Health Organisation's (WHO) Emergency Use Listing (EUL). That leaves the travellers with only a handful of nations that have approved Covaxin to travel. Unlike Oxford AstraZeneca which has been on the list and makes it easy for people vaccinated by Covishield to travel. For now, only nine nations have recognized Covaxin, so the people being vaccinated by Covaxin might have to wait for a little while to plan their travel. Covaxin has been recognized in Iran, Nepal, the Philippines, Mexico, Guinea, Paraguay, Zimbabwe and Mauritius.A proposal regarding Covaxin has already been sent to WHO by Bharat Biotech. WHO claims in the guidance document that “more information is required”, once Covaxin will be recognised by WHO, other countries will also be able to import the Covaxin. However, Covishield has been recognised by 130 nations. Another barricade in the travel plan for Indians is the current travel ban from several nations. List of nations that have banned travel from India: UAE (Till June 14), Canada (Till June 21), Australia, New Zealand(Till further notice), Oman (Till further notice) and Nepal (Till further notice).So far India's Covaxin output is at least 2 crore a month, while Covishield's output is almost 6 crore a month. If you are a travel enthusiast like most Indians, don’t worry! sooner or later you will be able to travel far and wide. Just keep your wings on rest till things take off!
