UNGA President Abdulla Shahid Reveals He Got India's Covishield Vaccine

3 Oct, 2021 12:57 IST|Sakshi Post
UN General Assembly President Abdulla Shahid | Image Source Twitter

President of the 76th session of the UN General Assembly Abdulla Shahid revealed that he had taken two doses of the India-manufactured Covishield vaccine.

The Covishield vaccine, which has been developed by British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, is manufactured in India by Pune-based Serum Institute of India.

Speaking during his first press conference, the UNGA President said, "On vaccines, that's a very technical question you have asked me. I got Covishield from India, I've got the two doses. I don't know how many countries would say that Covishield is acceptable or not, but a large portion of the countries have got Covishield, ”.

This was in response to a question on whether which COVID vaccine should be recognised and considered or the ones that have been validated by the World Health Organisation or any other group. India has exported over 66 million vaccine doses to nearly 100 countries through grants, commercial shipments and the COVAX facility.On 7 June 2021, the United Nations General Assembly elected Abdulla Shahid of Maldives as President of its seventy-sixth session, which runs from September 2021 until September 2022. The Maldives was among the first nations to receive the India-made vaccines in January when 100,000 doses of Covishield were dispatched to Male.

It may be recollected that the United Kingdom has initially refused to recognize Covishield, but after following India's strong criticism of the decision, the UK on September 22 amended its new guidelines and included the vaccine. After a lot of discussion and backlash, the United Kingdom has finally agreed to give a nod to Covishield. The vaccine has now been included in the United Kingdom’s list of trusted vaccines. But there are still few contingencies to it. Now Covishield manufactured by Serum Institute of India is on the list. But as for India, it is still under the list where travelers coming from this country should be under quarantine. The rules have not been relaxed fully for now. It will come into force from October 4.

Also Read: India's Covidshield Vaccine Gets UK Nod

whatsapp channel
Read More:
More News