To cry because one my my jabs is the unregistered AZ Indian one...

[Oxonschools]

And we are supposed to be going as a whole family, with the grandparents, to France on Sunday.

Does anyone know how I can find out if I will be let into France.

@Belladonna12

Did you ask what batch your vaccine was from before accepting the jab then?

All I knew was it was AZ, not the origin of the batch.

@daisypond because the statement was in response to the claims it was a homogenous decision. It cannot have been because the relevant application was not made (centralised).

The Green Pass system isn't in place yet, no one will ask you on Sunday. It could be 6 weeks before it is fully rolled out. You will be fine.

Op I've not read the thread, I hate the word "fumin" but it's the only word I can pull on right now.

What the fuck have I been injected with some unregulated shite??

Thankfully I cancelled our Sumner trip but we have one booked for Oct... I'm not happy and concerned as to what the hell is different!

*DISCLAIMER

I'm sure all my concern has been answered in the thread

@daisypond

Member states can approve their own or they can rely on EMA approval.

I must be missing something, but I don’t see how this squares with the statement “The medicine has to be recommended by the EMA before the European Commission permits for use in any member state.”

EU Member states can issue an emergency use authorisation (not a marketing authorisation) for products that are centrally authorised. Since the establishment of the EMA, vaccines have to be centrally authorised. There will, of course, be vaccines on the market in member states, such as flu and polio, which predate this.

However, they can issue the emergency use provision (which is the type of authorisation the UK issued for AZ) for use within their own country.

Oops, Ochon. Crossed.

@Cailleach1 - yours was more detailed

Argh, I’m still failing to get it. If the EMA has to give its approval before a vaccine’s use is permitted in the EU, there must only be one way of approval - through the EMA. If countries can authorise a vaccine nationally, then the EMA’s approval clearly isn’t needed at all. I’m talking about countries that authorised Sputnik and Sinopharm - neither approved by the EMA.

@daisypond - If the EMA has to give its approval before a vaccine’s use is permitted in the EU, there must only be one way of approval - through the EMA.

The EMA approves for the EU in its entirety. If the EMA has approved it, the individual countries don't need to do anything else. However, if the product is not EMA approved and a country wants to use it, they can authorise it for use within their own country.

Basically, EMA approval means you don't need duplication of effort on approving in individual countries. No EMA approval means each country needs to approve independently.

That is what the UK did with AZ. It had not been approved by the EMA so the UK did the work of approving it independently.

Each country, or group of countries, needs its national/supranational regulator to approve a new medicine.

The regulators will each and all do the full approval required. Some do take longer than other.

Relying on another country's regulator, when you have your own regulators, just doesn't happen.
If a small country which cannot/will not afford a regulator, then there would be a formal statement of which regulator they will follow (usually FDA)

The issue here is that the EU is setting up a vaccine passport scheme under which only vaccines approved for use in EU count (so that visitors have the same level and type of vaccine immunity as residents)

MHRA has approved vaccines that are not approved by EMA, not because there's anything wrong with them whatsoever, but because they were not presented to EMA for approval at the time. It's straight red tape, because there is nothing whatsoever to suggest there is any problem at all with these batches from a safety it effectiveness point of view

Its hardly "Red Tape"

The EU hasn't been using AZ vaccines from India, so why would they approve them, esp when AZ hasn't even asked them too.

Does the MHRA approve meds not used in the UK but available in Italy?

Its just another Brexit win.

Well, the MHRA didn't give market authorisation for AZ before the EMA. The UK were still operating on the 'Emergency Use' authorisation until the EMA approved AZ. Then the MHRA rubber-stamped the EMA authorisation and deemed it to be approved for the UK as well.

The EMA basically carried out the authorisation process for AZ, which the UK (via MHRA) simply adopted.

I think this is going to be going on for a year or two. The MHRA will be rubber-stamping EMA decisions and adopting them.

[quote Etinox]@Doodlebug71
And advice like yours is exactly why I suggested OP step away from the thread. Her second jab isn’t imminent as you suggest, she’s had it and it’s not on the European list.[/quote]
I linked to the French website, so that OP could read it themselves.

The post I read from OP seems to have disappeared. Most odd.

Frankly, one of the reasons we haven't bothered to try and book anything for this year (and won't be doing for some time) is that the situation is very fluid. The French only opened their borders to tourists at the end of June. It's quite possible they'll close them again at some point. Or raise the UK's rating to red.

www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/ten-european-countries-bow-pressure-accept-indian-made-astrazeneca/amp/

so today has proven, at present you can access France fully vaccinated with a negative PCR Test, with no compelling reason, and do not have to quarantine (in France), even if you’ve had one of the dodgy AstraZeneca vaccines!

@Lunar2020

so today has proven, at present you can access France fully vaccinated with a negative PCR Test, with no compelling reason, and do not have to quarantine (in France), even if you’ve had one of the dodgy AstraZeneca vaccines!

My colleague landed in France this afternoon, his first jab was one from one of the highlighted AstraZeneca batches, second jab, fine (UK batch).

You’ll need a medical document (a doctors letter or the NHS Covid Pass document) proving you are fully vaccinated at least 4 weeks since your last jab, and negative PCR Test.

Based on what I have witnessed today, it seems you are right

Based on evidence today, this is correct

I live in France.
The UK is currently an amber country which means that British residents need to have been doubly vaccinated and have a PCR test 72 hours or LF 48 hours prior to entering.
Absolutely no mention of the Indian AZ batches has been in the French press or on the government website to my knowledge. I cannot imagine border control will be scanning each batch number.
If any of your party are unvaccinated, they will need to have an imperative reason to travel and will be expected to quarantine for 7 days.
Post Brexit, you will also need to have proof of accommodation booking (preferably printed) and proof of €130 per day each (cash or a printed bank balance.) If you are staying with family or friends , the amount is lower but you will need them to have provided you with paperwork from their local municipality as proof (livret d’accueil -one per family group per visit.) You will also need travel insurance and the new UK version of the European health insurance card each. Also be careful if travelling by plane as some airlines require boarding cards to be printed rather than on phones for non EU citizens!

I wouldn’t worry about the Indian batch numbers too much but do make sure you have all other necessary paperwork ready at the border to avoid giving any tricky border control police any excuse to start being difficult.

Hope it all goes smoothly and you have a great holiday.

I dont think you’re meant to be going to France on holiday anyway, essential travel only

And no YANBU

You have everything right be upset and concerned about something like this. Doubt on a medical matter is always concerning. It’s also not unreasonable to be upset when you think you’ve done the right thing only for it to appear to have backfired on you.

Additionally no you are not being unreasonable as I went through the worst stress of my entire time in my job role yesterday in trying to get advice and answers on this matter. The situation ending up with being a scenario that my colleague may or may not be permitted into France and at the risk that they may have been forced to quarantine there, for 7 days, at their expense, for absolutely nothing, due to the fault of a branding admin error.

This was yet another highly unbelievable, you couldn’t make it up, ridiculous situation brought upon by the saga of ‘the pandemic and the Government’. In fact this has been the most ridiculously situation I’ve experienced by far.

I got a jab from that batch too according to my record on my NHS app. But I'm not too bothered as not planning to go abroad until end of August and Spain is one of the countries that have already said they will accept that batch anyway - lots of European countries are saying they will accept it anyway regardless of what the EU says.

It's exactly the same product as other AZ vaccines, just different branding.

OP - can you let us know if you get in OK?!

We have the same scenario - going with my parents in a couple of weeks time, for my (delayed from 2020) holiday to celebrate my mother's 70th birthday! Ironically we rebooked France, thinking it would be easier to drive rather than fly to Spain - and at the moment, I can go to Spain without worrying about my first jab being Covidshield, but France may make things tricky. I do hope that they will be sensible about it - if we have negative PCRs and all of the other paperwork, then I am hoping it will all be fine......as one of the French scientists said, its 'just admin' and they will find a solution. Fingers crossed!

According to today’s Times no Indian AZ doses have been delivered in the UK. You should be fine