No Technical Concerns On Certification Process: British High Commissioner

After the heated debate on the validity of the vaccination certification, the U.K seems to be nearing a vaccination deal with India.

The British High Commissioner to India Alex Ellis on Thursday tweeted that neither side raised technical concerns on the certification processes.

“Neither side (India and UK) raised technical concerns with each other’s certification process. An important step forward in our joint aim to facilitate travel and fully protect public health of the UK and India,” Eliis said, in a way to console India after the U.K raised anomaly on India’s vaccination certificate.

The High Commissioner’s tweet came after “excellent technical discussions” with R S Sharma, chairman of the empowered group for Covid-19 vaccine administration and the head of the CoWIN platform. Sharma tweeted: “Echoing his views, this will be instrumental in resuming socio-economic activities between India and UK.”

Sharma, however, told the Times of India, “We have no information to the effect that the UK has some concerns about the certification process of our vaccination programme. Nothing of the sort has been conveyed to me by the British High Commissioner, the UK government or our ministry of external affairs.”

Earlier, India had warned the U.K reciprocal action, after the U.K reported irregularities on India’s CoWin Certificate and the extended mandatory quarantine procedure on Indian travelers.

However, the U.K had approved India’s WHO-approved vaccine Covishield and added it in the valid vaccination category list.

The health ministry on Thursday called the UK’s new travel policy “discriminatory” as it consider those vaccinated in India are unvaccinated. Health secertary Rajesh Bhushan said while the two countries are in dialogue and may reach a resolution soon, India reserves the right to reciprocate in similar manner if the UK fails to recognise vaccinated Indians.

“We’re clear Covishield is not a problem… We have been having detailed technical discussions regarding certification, with the builders of the CoWIN app and the NHS app, about both apps,” Ellis had said in a statement on Wednesday.