Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 26 July 2021 to Question 35710 on Travel: Coronavirus, what discussions he has had with (a) Member States, (b) the International Civil Aviation Organisation and (c) the WHO on the recognition of certain AstraZeneca covid-19 vaccine batches by the EU Digital Covid-19 Certificate.

Following discussions with Member States, the European Union published a list of vaccines it considers as equivalent to those authorised by the European Medicines Agency for the purposes of travel. This recognised all vaccines administered in the United Kingdom, including all batches of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccines.

Discussions with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) focused on strategies for the safe and sustainable reopening of international travel. This consisted of common standards on certification, including for all COVID-19 vaccines deployed in the UK. Through our membership of ICAO’s Council Aviation Recovery Taskforce, we assisted the delivery of a global harmonised approach to restart and recovery. We are working with the WHO as it develops its policy on vaccination travel risks and smart COVID-19 status certification. The ICAO will then develop further international aviation guidance to build a more resilient and sustainable international civil aviation system. This was discussed further during the ICAO’s Conference held in October 2021.