The move comes after New Delhi called the British decision not to recognise Indian vaccine, Covishield, ‘discriminatory’.
Fully vaccinated British nationals arriving in India will be subjected to a 10-day mandatory quarantine, in response to similar measures imposed on Indian nationals.
The move comes after India’s Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla called Britain’s decision not to recognise the Indian version of the AstraZeneca vaccine, known as Covishield, “discriminatory”. He had warned of reciprocal measures should London fail to reconsider.
A mandatory quarantine period of 10 days will also be enforced, according to a foreign ministry official who spoke to The Associated Press news agency.
More than a dozen countries in Asia, the Caribbean and the Middle East made it to the list, but India’s programme was not included. Similarly, no programme in the African continent was accepted.
India, the world’s largest vaccine producer, announced earlier this week that it would resume donations of surplus coronavirus vaccines after it froze exports due to a surge in domestic infections.
Britain’s refusal to accept certain vaccine certificates has led to concerns that it could exacerbate vaccine hesitancy.
Countries that received hundreds of thousands of doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from the British government were left wondering why their vaccination programmes were not good enough in the eyes of its provider.
Rob Yates, director of the global health programme at the Chatham House think-tank in London, told AP that Britain’s policy was “indicative of the lack of solidarity that has been shown by governments and by politicians″.
“It’s unfortunate that we’re seeing tit-for-tat. In terms of humanity and for us all this is what we want to be avoiding,” Yates said.” We want much more cooperation.″
