India warns of 'reciprocal measures" on UK's decision to not recognise Covishield

New Delhi: Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla on Monday said that the UK government's decision to not recognise Covishield as a legitimate anti-Covid vaccine is "discriminatory" and it is within the country's "right to take reciprocal measures" if the matter was not resolved,reports

In a press conference in New Delhi, Shringla said that the non-recognition of Covishield is a discriminating policy and impacts Indian citizens travelling to the UK. He also added that the External Affairs Minister has raised the issue strongly with the new UK foreign secretary.

Shringla's comments came on a day Foreign Minister S Jaishankar tweeted about discussing the matter with the British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss on the sidelines of the high-level 76th session of the UN General Assembly.

The meeting in New York took place the same day as the UK announced new Covid-related travel restrictions that sparked sharp criticism and concerns in India.

According to these new rules, Indian travellers who have received both doses of the Covishield vaccine manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII) will be considered unvaccinated and will have to undergo self-isolation for 10 days.

Covishield was developed by researchers at the University of Oxford and pharma giant AstraZeneca. It was one of the two vaccines deployed by India -- Covaxin being the other -- in its nationwide Covid vaccination drive launched this January by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Covaxin was developed by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research.