Italy: Another EU nation recognized India’s Covishield after a meeting between Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya and his Italian Counterpart Roberto Speranza along with MEA’s relentless efforts. The EU’s Digital Covid certificate or ‘Green Pass’ came into effect from Thursday with an aim to facilitate free movement during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Austria, Germany, Slovenia, Greece, Iceland, Ireland and Spain are among the countries allowing travel by people who have taken Covishield vaccines, the sources said. The individual member states have the flexibility to also accept vaccines that have been authorized at the national level or those recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Switzerland and Germany have accepted to allow people administered with Covishield Covid-19 vaccine to get a green pass to visit the European countries according. “Versions of EU-approved vaccines approved abroad (original or licensed productions) are equivalent to the mentioned EU-approved vaccines for proof of vaccination protection,” said German Embassy spokesperson on allowing the green pass to travellers who took Covishield vaccine.

According to data from the Union Health Ministry, as many as 66% of the country’s adult population has been administered with at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine; 23% with both doses.