DNA Special: Major victory for India on 'vaccine diplomacy'

It is said that in diplomatic relations, sometimes with a tough attitude, you can achieve what you may not achieve by being polite. We are saying this because after India's warning, apart from 7 countries of the European Union, Switzerland and Iceland have also included the Covishield vaccine in the Green Pass.

After the coronavirus crisis, 27 countries of the European Union prepared a Digital Covid Certificate, called the Green Paas. This pass is available to those who have taken a vaccine approved by the European Medicines Agency. This gives travellers an exemption from quarantine when travelling in the countries of the European Union.

India's two vaccines Covishield and Covaxin have not been included in Green Pass. This means that if a citizen from India travels to any of the 27 countries of the European Union, then he will have to stay in that country in quarantine for a few days.

At the diplomatic level, India was constantly trying to get the European Union to recognize both the vaccines and include it in the Green Paas, but when the European Union did not do this, then the Indian government on Wednesday said that if the European Union approves India's vaccine in its countries, India will also recognize the EU's vaccines, thereby exempting people coming to India from 27 countries from quarantine.

After this proposal of India, the European Union changed its stand and said that if the countries of the European Union want, they can include WHO-accredited India's vaccine in Green Paas at their level.

Following the EU's new approach, Austria, Germany, Slovenia, Greece, Ireland, Spain and Estonia have approved India's Covishield vaccine. Apart from these countries, Switzerland and Iceland also recognized Covishield. The European country Estonia has also recognized India's Covaxin. That is, after taking the vaccine, those travelling from India to these nine countries will be exempted from quarantine.