The restart of international travel could be seriously delayed without worldwide reciprocal recognition of all approved COVID-19 vaccines, says the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC). The global tourism body has issued its warning following concerns tourists face being turned away at the borders because countries don’t have a common list internationally recognized and approved COVID-19 vaccines.

This comes just days after a number of British tourists, who had been administered the Indian Covishield batch of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, were rejected entry into Malta despite the drug being chemically identical to the UK-made vaccine.

(Ed note: As of July 2, federal government data said that just over 272,000 Canadians had received at least one does of the Covishield vaccine; another 1.6 million had received the European version of AstraZeneca).

Over the past few weeks reports of travellers facing obstacles to entry have been on the rise, with some even being prevented from boarding their flights to destinations.

“Once again, the lack of international coordination to agree on a list of approved vaccines is creating yet another major stumbling block for the restart of international travel,” says the WTTC.

This comes despite most vaccines have secured the approval of the World Health Organization (WHO) or Stringent Regulatory Authorities (SRAs), such as the UK’s the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and the Food and Drug Administration in the US, and the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

Reports of travellers being turned away because they have the ‘wrong’ vaccine batches or ‘unrecognized’ vaccines have fuelled concern from consumers, deterring them from booking and thereby damaging the already struggling travel and tourism sector, says the WTTC.

WTTC Sr. VP Virginia Messina said: “Reciprocal recognition of all vaccine types and batches is essential if we are to avoid any further unnecessary and damaging delay to restarting international travel.

“The failure of countries to agree on a common list of all approved and recognized vaccines is of huge concern to WTTC, as we know every day travel is curbed, more cash-strapped travel and tourism businesses face even greater strain, pushing ever more to the brink of bankruptcy.”

She adds, “We can avoid this by having a fully recognized list of all the approved vaccines – and vaccine batches – which should be the key to unlocking international travel, not the door to preventing it. It will also give holidaymakers and travellers the confidence they need to book trips, flights and cruises, confident in the knowledge that their fully-vaccinated status will be internationally recognized.”

WTTC says the restoration of safe international travel can be achieved through a combination of COVID-19 testing, vaccination, digital health travel passes, and the use of health and safety protocols, such as wearing face masks and use of the WTTC’s ‘safe travels stamp.’