COVID-19 Vaccine | Belgium adds Covishield to Green Pass, becomes 15th European country to recognise vaccine

The Belgium Embassy in India on July 9 said the country recognises that Covishield is the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine being produced by SII and called the move “an important decision” in the fight for vaccine equality.

Moneycontrol News

July 10, 2021 / 10:40 IST

While the Green Pass is poised to boost Europe's busy summer vacation period, the more infectious Delta variant is already looming – threatening to curtail its use and trigger an "emergency brake". (Image: Shutterstock)

Belgium has become the 15th European country to recognise Covishield – the Serum Institute of India-made AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, for its Green Pass.

The Belgium Embassy in India on July 9 said the country recognises that Covishield is the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine being produced by SII and distributed by the World Health Organisation’s COVAX initiative. It called the move “an important decision” in the fight for vaccine equality.

Some important decisions today:
will donate a first load of vaccines to COVAX this month. Meanwhile we explore ways to scale up local manufacturing
recognizes Covishield, AZ vaccine distributed by COVAX. Important to fight vaccine inequality & vaccine hesitation. pic.twitter.com/6USc2AnQYu
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— Meryame Kitir (@MeryameKitir) July 7, 2021

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Speaking to ANI, Arnaud Lion, Charge d'affaires of Belgium embassy said, “The inter-ministerial conference in Belgium decided to recognize the Covishield vaccination on July 7. This will have a positive impact I hope for everyone in India and outside India being vaccinated with Covishield.”

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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