Australia Adds Bharat Biotech's Covaxin To Its List Of Approved Vaccines For Travel

Finally, the government of Australia has added Covaxin developed by India's Bharat Biotech to its list of approved COVID-19 vaccines. Now, the Indians who have got COVAXIN wil be allowed to enter the country. Australia also recognised Covishield manufactured by the Serum Institute of India for travel purposes.

A statement said, "Today, the TGA determined that Covaxin (manufactured by Bharat Biotech, India) and BBIBP-CorV (manufactured by Sinopharm, China) vaccines would be 'recognised' for the purpose of establishing a traveller's vaccination status. This recognition is for travellers aged 12 and over who have been vaccinated with Covaxin, and those 18 to 60 who have been vaccinated with BBIBP-CorV."

The statement further reads, "Importantly, recognition of Covaxin, and BBIBP-CorV, along with the previously announced recognition of Coronavac (manufactured by Sinovac, China) and Covishield (manufactured by AstraZeneca, India), means many citizens of China and India as well as other countries in our region where these vaccines have been widely deployed will now be considered fully vaccinated on entry to Australia."

COVAXIN is India's indigenous COVID-19 vaccine by Bharat Biotech and the vaccine is developed in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) - National Institute of Virology (NIV).

The vaccine is developed using Whole-Virion Inactivated Vero Cell derived platform technology. Inactivated vaccines do not replicate and are therefore unlikely to revert and cause pathological effects. They contain dead virus, incapable of infecting people but still able to instruct the immune system to mount a defensive reaction against an infection.