96 countries have agreed to mutual accept Indian COVID vaccine certificates: Mansukh Mandaviya

NEW DELHI: Ninety-six countries have agreed to mutual recognition of COVID-19 vaccination certificates with India, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Tuesday.

The government continues to be in communication with the rest of the world so that beneficiaries of the world's largest COVID-19 vaccination programme are accepted and recognised, thereby easing travel for education, business and tourism purposes, Mandaviya said in a statement.

"At present, 96 countries have agreed to mutual recognition of vaccination certificates and also those who recognise Indian vaccination certificates of travellers fully vaccinated with Covishield/WHO approved/nationally approved COVID vaccines," Mandaviya stated.

Consecutively, persons travelling from these countries are provided certain relaxations as enunciated in the Union Health Ministry's guidelines on international arrivals issued on October 20, 2021. For those who wish to travel abroad, the international travel vaccination certificate can also be downloaded from the CoWIN portal, the ministry said.

Among the 96 countries are Canada, the US, the UK, France, Germany, Belgium, Ireland, Netherlands, Spain, Bangladesh, Mali, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Angola, Nigeria, Benin, Chad, Hungary, Serbia, Poland, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece, Finland, Estonia, Romania, Moldova, Albania, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Sweden, Austria, Montenegro, and Iceland.

Eswatini, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Malawi, Botswana, Namibia, Kyrgyz Republic, Belarus, Armenia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Georgia, Andorra, Kuwait, Oman, the UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Maldives, Comoros, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Peru, Jamaica, the Bahamas, and Brazil have also agreed to mutual recognition of COVID-19 vaccination certificates with India.

Guyana, Antigua & Barbuda, Mexico, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Columbia, Trinidad & Tobago, Commonwealth of Dominica, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Nepal, Iran, Lebanon, State of Palestine, Syria, South Sudan, Tunisia, Sudan, Egypt, Australia, Mongolia, and Philippines are the other countries.

"The Ministry of Health along with the Ministry of External Affairs is in continuous communication with all countries for mutual recognition of vaccine certificates, and WHO and nationally approved vaccines to facilitate hassle-free international travel across countries," the minister said.

"The Union government's commitment to accelerate the pace and expanding the scope of COVID-19 vaccination throughout the country has resulted in crossing the 100 crore milestone in administration of doses on October 21, 2021," he stated.

The cumulative vaccine doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive has exceeded 109.08 crore.