Europe’s digital ‘green pass’ does not recognise the vaccine donated to many African countries through the COVAX initiative.
The African Union (AU) and Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) have kicked against this.
They urged the EU to consider increasing mandatory access to those vaccines deemed suitable for global rollout through the EU-supported COVAX Facility.
The European Union Digital COVID Certificate enables people who have received two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine approved by its medicines regulator, the European Medicines Agency (EMA), to travel freely within the bloc.
Read Also: $1B More Needed For COVAX Vaccine Rollout – UNICEF
But the pass only recognises AstraZeneca doses (branded Vaxzevria) made by EMA-approved manufacturers in Europe, US, South Korea, and China — not those manufactured by the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer, the Serum Institute of India (branded Covishield).
Covishield has been supplied to many African countries.
In a statement obtained by CNN, EMA explained that Vaxzevria is only Covid-19 shot from AstraZeneca for which approval was requested — leading to its authorization in the EU.
‘In the EU, the vaccine called Covishield does not currently have a marketing authorization.
‘Even though it may use an analogous production technology to Vaxzevria, Covishield as such is not currently approved under EU rules,’ the EMA said.
‘This is because vaccines are biological products. Even tiny differences in the manufacturing conditions can result in differences in the final product, and EU law therefore requires the manufacturing sites and production process to be assessed and approved as part of the authorization process.
‘Should we receive a marketing authorization application for Covishield or should any change to the approved manufacturing sites for Vaxzevria be approved, we would communicate about it?’
AFRICA DAILY NEWS, NEW YORK
