Almost 2 years of the global pandemic COVID-19 has left everyone alarmed.

Not only did the travel and tourism industry got completely shut down but also the health was on a pinpoint. As the lockdowns are lifting up worldwide, countries are now easing their foreign travel rules. They consist of rules, policies, and every necessary mandate that is required to travel to a foreign country. Recently, UK also announced its new travel rules for foreign countries, but all eyes turned red in India. Let’s observe why.

Controversy seems to have erupted over the UK govt. new travel guidelines which excluded COVISHEILD from those vaccines which are included in the “green list” of vaccines required to travel to the UK. This provoked a strong backlash from the Indian govt. and thousands of Indians.

Is it vaccine racism?

The Serum Institute of India that made the Covishield and the AstraZeneca of UK had previously agreed in June 2020 to manufacture approx. 1 billion Covishield vaccines. Interestingly, both the vaccines are identical in their formula, AstraZeneca and Covishield. Then where did the problem arise suddenly that the UK didn’t keep Covishield in its list of approved vaccines?

When interviewed by the media, the UK authorities said they are working on verifying the vaccination certification that is provided in India. Could they not have done this earlier before announcing their travel rules? Shouldn’t they have informed the Indian govt. of this verification?

Only European, North American, and 17 other countries around the world have been kept on this list. It says that the person has to be double jabbed and acquired one of the UK-regulated vaccines, then only he would be allowed to enter into the country. Also, these countries that have been cleared with travel rules have very low levels of coronavirus. They are green-listed countries, according to UK’s list.

While India, on the other hand, India has been put on the ‘amber list’ earlier. Now this list system has been removed and a new policy has been devised last Friday. But what we don’t understand is, why is there so much confusion? Why is the UK constantly devising different policies without informing the countries involved?

Not only this but the UK govt. has also mandated a COVID negative test 3 days prior to the arrival in the UK, and also another one on the 8th day. During this period, people traveling from India will have to remain in quarantine. A fine of 500 pounds has also been leveraged on those who break this rule. Isn’t this vaccine racism? Or a clear mandate to show that Indian vaccines are inferior to them?

The authorities have also called it “double standards” played by the UK. Despite Covishield being manufactured from the same formula as AstraZeneca. Amidst all these controversies the Minister of External Affairs in India, S. Jaishankar clearly stated that they would impose the “reciprocity principle” if the UK doesn’t review its policy as soon as possible.

Now, after the outrage and backlash, conversations between app developers of both countries have been established to understand the processing of vaccination apps. The UK ministers and health officials call it a matter of mutual public health that they don’t want to risk.

What is all these agenda set up by the UK? Without any prior consultation or conversation, they are regularly modifying their policies. This not only affects the geopolitical relations but also the foreign relations between both countries.