admin AstraZeneca has become a household name, but its COVID-19 vaccine will soon be rebranded to help smooth the pathway for millions of Australians hoping to travel overseas once the international border reopens.
Renaming in the Works
The vaccine was originally called COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca but has now been officially renamed “Vaxzevria” and approved by Europe’s drug regulator, the European Medicines Agency. In Australia, the AstraZeneca vaccine being made by biotechnology company CSL is still going by its old name, causing some confusion and creating concern it could be seen as different to the same vaccine being made overseas.
To overcome any potential issues, AstraZeneca is in the process of registering the name Vaxzevria with Australia’s regulator, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA). “Although it is not affecting travel to the EU … the TGA has already had initial discussions with the European Medicines Agency (and other overseas regulators) on regulatory approaches to vaccine recognition,” the TGA said in a statement.
Controversy over Travel Allowances
Federal Labor has been raising concerns about the potential issue and has written to the Foreign Minister and Health Minister urging them to ensure that once fully-vaccinated Australians can travel again, their vaccinations will actually be recognized.
Separately, high-level Australian officials are also lobbying their European counterparts to recognize the Melbourne-made AstraZeneca shot on vaccine certificates “so it does not become a barrier to travel in the future”. It is true that the AstraZeneca vaccine made in Australia has not been authorized for use in the European Union, but that is because there are no plans for CSL to manufacture shots there.
However, the Australian-made vaccine was listed by the World Health Organization (WHO) for “Emergency Use” in July, which means it should be recognized by its member countries under the European Union’s own guidelines. “Entry into the EU for non-essential reasons should be allowed to people fully vaccinated with one of the vaccines authorized in the EU,” a EU Commission spokesperson said. “EU Member States could also allow entry for people vaccinated with vaccines having completed the WHO Emergency Use Listing process.”
Digital Certificates
The EU Digital COVID certificate provides proof that a person is fully vaccinated and has returned a negative test, and will eventually allow quarantine-free travel through all 27 member countries. However, the EU Commission said it was not a precondition to entry
“We understand that Australians fully vaccinated with the Australian-made AstraZeneca vaccine are currently unlikely to be recognized as being fully vaccinated when travelling to European Union countries by EU authorities,” the Shadow Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Shadow Health Minister Mark Butler said in a statement. “This is causing significant concern and distress in the community, as fully vaccinated Australians rightly expect their vaccination to be recognized by other countries when travelling internationally.”
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