Covax, the global facility led by WHO, GAVI and CEPI to ensure universal and equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines, called on 1 July, the day the Covid certificate came into force in the EU, for equal treatment of all WHO-recognised vaccines worldwide to avoid discrimination, including against fully vaccinated third-country tourists.
Not to do so “would create a two-tier system, which would further increase the vaccine gap and exacerbate the inequalities we have already seen in the distribution of Covid vaccines”, according to the “Covax partners” quoted by AFP Geneva.
Two days earlier, the African Union had complained that non-essential travel to the EU could discriminate against people vaccinated with Covishield, the vaccine developed by Astra Zeneca, manufactured in India and distributed as part of Covax on the African continent, but not licenced by the European Medicines Agency (see EUROPE 12752/13).
The European Commission, when asked, is looking into the matter “in more detail”, according to a spokesperson. According to the institution, Member States should accept non-essential travel and Covid certificates from people who have been injected with EMA-recognised vaccines and could extend this to all people who have received a WHO-approved vaccine, but this would not be an obligation. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)