WHO calls on countries to recognize all authorized vaccines for travel

The World Health Organization (WHO) is calling on countries opening up their borders to recognize any COVID-19 vaccine it has authorized for emergency use.

In a joint statement Thursday with the COVAX initiative, the WHO urged “all regional, national and local government authorities to recognise as fully vaccinated all people who have received COVID-19 vaccines that have been deemed safe and effective by the World Health Organization.”

The statement came as the European Union began rolling out its digital travel certificate that will allow vaccinated travelers to have unrestricted movement across the region.

But only vaccines that have received EU marketing authorization are recognized, although individual countries can decide if they want to allow travelers who have received other vaccines. That means the EU program does not recognize the AstraZeneca vaccines manufactured in India by the country’s Serum Institute — branded as Covishield — because they have not been cleared by EU regulators.

There are just four vaccines that currently qualify under the EU certificate’s criteria: Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech, Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca doses manufactured in Europe by the company itself, which are chemically identical to the European-made doses.