New Zealand has included Covaxin and Covishield to its list of eight approved vaccines, Indian High Commissioner to the country, Mukhtesh Pardeshi, said today.
India's homegrown Covaxin, which has been found to have 77.8 per cent efficacy rate according to a long-awaited analysis published in The Lancet, got the WHO approval earlier this month.
"We keenly await the lifting of travel restrictions. India is already open to vaccinated tourists," Mr. Pardeshi's tweet read.
New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern had earned worldwide praise for her handling of the Covid situation even as the biggest of the countries struggled to contain the virus.
The island nation is now cautiously easing the curbs. Eighty-two per cent of the eligible population (over 34 lakh people aged 12 and above) in the country is fully vaccinated, according to its official Health website.
In India, the government aims to fully vaccinate all 108 crore adults, by the end of this year.
Bharat Biotech's Covaxin and the Serum Institute of India's Covishield are the two major vaccines that are being administered for now across the country. Over 113 crore doses have been given so far, the Health Ministry data shows.
The WHO approval to Covaxin is set to significantly ease travel for Indian travelers, the government said last week.
"In a significant development, India developed and produced Covaxin was accorded the emergency use licensing by World Health Organization (WHO) earlier this month on November 3. This should ease the international travel of those vaccinated with Covaxin. Many countries already recognize WHO-approved vaccines and now with Covaxin joining this list that should become automatic," Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
96 countries, he said, have either accepted WHO-approved vaccines, which would include both Covishield and Covaxin, or in some cases only Covishield or Covaxin.
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