Austria bans Indian students: A conference of the European Geosciences Union is going to be held in Vienna, the capital of Austria. This conference is called the General Assembly. Thousands of research scholars from fields like Geological Sciences, Water Resources, Science of Climate Change participate in this conference held annually.
Students studying in well-known institutes like IIT, NIT, IISc in India eagerly wait for this conference. Every year around 400 Indian students attend this conference, but this time Austria has banned Indian students from participating in this conference. The reason is the vaccine introduced in India.
Austria bans Indian students
Austria, which is a member of the European Union, says that anyone wearing a Coveshield is allowed to enter the country, but he is not allowed to stay and participate in any events. Austria has cited the European Medicines Agency behind this.
The European Medicines Agency has recognized only five vaccines of corona in the countries of the European Union. This includes Oxford AstraZeneca, Pfizer Biontech, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and Novavax. Which means, the people who have got these vaccines, they can stay in these countries.
It is worth noting that Oxford AstraZeneca’s Vaxjeveria is included in this list but Covishield has been left out. While the Covishield vaccine is also made in collaboration with UK-Sweden pharma company AstraZeneca and Oxford University.
The only difference is that it is produced by Serum Institute, Pune. That is, the vaccine is one but the rules are different. Now, the question is arising that why India is being discriminated against regarding the vaccine, while Covishield is recognized by WHO.
Nine corona vaccines have been approved in India. At present, only three vaccines are being used for vaccination in the country. These include Covishield, Covaxin made by Indian firm Bharat Biotech and Sputnik-V of Russia. So far, more than 85 percent of the people in India have been vaccinated with the Covidshield vaccine. This means that people of India can enter Austria but cannot take part in any program happening there.
These conditions apply not only to students but also to Indians whose families live in Austria. Such families also cannot meet each other due to Indian vaccine.