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Covid-19 jabs and overseas travel: Concerns over US, UK entry criteria

09 Oct 2021

  • US says no to Russia’s Sputnik; UK yet to accept SL vaccine certification
  • Vaccine passport technical glitch being fixed: Health Minister
  • QR code anomaly to be fixed before end of the week
  • Authorities in touch with other countries on the matter
By Ruwani Fonseka The Government is working with an overseas service provider to rectify a technical anomaly in the QR code system provided for Sri Lanka’s “vaccine passport”, which will meet current standards of international travel, including that of the UK, The Sunday Morning learnt. The entry criteria announced last week by the UK and the US for fully vaccinated individuals caused concerns among Sri Lankans anticipating foreign travel. While the UK is yet to accept Sri Lanka’s vaccine certification, the US announced that it does not accept Russian-manufactured Sputnik vaccines. Responding to a query, Minister of Health Keheliya Rambukwella said the reason the Sri Lankan vaccine credentials were not accepted by certain European countries was due to a technical anomaly which prevented the bearer’s date of birth from being clearly visible when the QR code was scanned. “We are addressing the matter. Due to a technical anomaly, we understand that the date of birth is not clearly reflected in the QR code on the vaccine passport. We are taking corrective measures,” Rambukwella explained. According to the Health Minister, the Government was in touch with a platform service provider in India to fix the issue. “The matter will be rectified in a few days and then we should be able to enter the green zone, as the anomaly would be fixed,” Rambukwella stated, adding that the matter should be resolved before the end of this week. The UK Government had communicated with the Sri Lankan authorities regarding the issue. The Health Minister said that the authorities would be in touch with their counterparts in other countries to monitor any further issues. The move follows reports that the UK had refused to accept the Sri Lankan vaccine card for individuals vaccinated with AstraZeneca and was considering such individuals as “not fully vaccinated”. The UK and India have similar issues, which have been resolved to an extent. Meanwhile, the US announced last week that it would soon open its doors to foreign travellers who have been vaccinated, loosening restrictions for broad swaths of global visitors for the first time since the pandemic began, yet particularly announced that the Russian-manufactured Sputnik V vaccine will not be eligible for entry. Due to this, Sri Lanka saw many youngsters hesitant to receive the Sinopharm, AstraZeneca, and Sputnik V vaccines due to fears of not being eligible to enter these countries. Speaking to The Sunday Morning, Deputy Director General of Public Health Services Dr. Hemantha Herath stated that every country had the right to accept or deny the vaccine certificates issued by a different country. “The UK is one of the countries that might not accept the Covishield vaccine certificate issued by Sri Lanka. There is no specific reason as to why the UK was not accepting our Covishield vaccine certificate. However, they will also not refuse entry into their country, as Sri Lankans who are vaccinated with the Covishield vaccine in Sri Lanka will have to follow other regulations for entry into the UK just as non-vaccinated tourists would,” he said. When inquired about the administration of the Sputnik V vaccine and its refusal in the US, Dr. Herath went on to say that despite the US not accepting the Sputnik V vaccine, it was a World Health Organisation (WHO)-approved vaccine, and while the US had the right to not “accept” the vaccine, they could not “deny” passengers based on the vaccination card. However, foreign news reports indicate that the WHO, as of 29 September, put on hold approval for the Sputnik V vaccine. The WHO and Russian authorities were sharing additional information regarding the vaccines to enable its approval. Meanwhile, yesterday (9), the State Pharmaceuticals Corporation (SPC) confirmed receipt of 14.5 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine which would be administered to those above the age of 20 years as a booster shot.


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