Our vaccines will prove that they are world class: Suchitra Ella, Bharat Biotech

Suchitra Ella, joint managing director at Bharat Biotech, on Tuesday said the choice of vaccine should not become a barrier to enter any country. She was responding to the United Kingdom's decision to not ease travel restrictions on people fully vaccinated in India.

Vaccines which are approved and licensed by the national regulatory authorities should not be restricted by other countries to ban entry of travellers, Ella said.

"Our vaccines will prove yet again that they are world class," she tweeted and pointed out that the country has supplied billions of doses of Covid-19 vaccine world over.

"India has crossed 800 million doses, which is no small achievement," Ella said.

Bharat Biotech's Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin is one of the three vaccines used in India's vaccination drive along with Serum Institute of India's Covishield and Russian vaccine Sputnik V.

The UK has simplified rules for overseas travellers, doing away with the need for pre-departure Covid-19 test for people coming in from countries not in its 'red list', with effect from October 4.

However, India is not in the list of countries whose vaccinations will be accepted in the UK. Even Covishield, developed by Oxford University, is not recognised. SII chief executive Adar Poonawalla had on July 13 said the company had applied for the European Medicines Agency approval through AstraZeneca.