Travel to UK must be boycotted and curbs be criticized

Condemning the new UK travel policy that considers fully vaccinated Indians as unvaccinated and prescribes 10 days quarantine, Dr MC Mishra, Ex AIIMS director, said that people should boycott travelling to the UK as long as the new rule exists.

He said that all countries should come forward and severely criticize the new travel restrictions imposed by the UK government.

According to the new UK rules, Indian travellers who have received both doses of the Covishield vaccine manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII) will be considered unvaccinated and will have to undergo 10-day quarantine.

Dr Mishra said that the whole world is reeling under the pandemic which has telling impact on the economies across the world. He asked why should one spend money for 10 days in UK's hotels in such a situation?


Talking to IANS, Dr Mishra said that this travel restriction is baseless and illogical. "How a vaccine can be effective in the UK and non effective in other nations," he asked.

The UK government's recent order which has triggered controversy says that person vaccinated in countries like the UAE, India, Turkey, Jordan, Thailand, Russia, or the continents of Africa and South America, will be considered as unvaccinated and will have to undergo a mandatory 10-day quarantine upon their arrival. Mishra said that the Indian government should take cognizance and criticize the new rules.

The new UK travel rule further adds that only people who have got both shots of AstraZeneca, Pfizer or Moderna or the single shot of Janssen vaccine "under an approved vaccination program in the UK, Europe, US or UK" will be considered fully vaccinated.


India's mass vaccination program is being run with mainly two vaccines Covishield and Covaxin. The Covishield was developed by researchers at the University of Oxford and pharma giant AstraZeneca. Covaxin was developed by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech- IANS