Removing vaccination mandate for incoming tourists correct move: Experts

With over 90% of population being vaccinated, it is okay at a policy level to relax the mandatory vaccination norm for entering India, they say

India on Monday dropped the requirement of vaccination certificates for inbound travellers, joining Thailand which eased the rule from October 1.

While countries such as Japan and Singapore insist on vaccination or pre-departure testing and have relaxed borders much later than India, public health experts feel the central government has taken the correct step by relaxing the Covid-19 related entry conditions.

“Insisting on only vaccinated people entering the country has little value since vaccines now add protection to individuals and not to the population,” said Gagandeep Kang, microbiologist and professor at Christian Medical College, Vellore.

She added that with more than 90 per cent of the population being vaccinated, it is okay at a policy level to relax the mandatory vaccination norm for entering India.

“It is a good move and a sign of normalcy as Covid-19 cases are going down and there is no emergence of new Covid-19 strains,” added Dr Rahul Sharma, additional director of pulmonology at Fortis Hospital, Noida.

On Monday, the union health ministry dropped the requirements of mandatory self-declaration of health status (Air Suvidha) and certificate of full primary vaccination in its revised guidelines for inbound travellers. “All travellers should preferably be fully vaccinated as per the approved primary schedule of vaccination against Covid-19 in their country,” the ministry of health and family welfare said in its new guidelines on Monday.

The requirement of random post-arrival testing of two per cent of arriving passengers too has been done away with in the new guideline.

“Covid-19 won't go completely. It will still be there in the community with ups and downs. The resistance against severe infection is varying across countries, primarily depending on the extent of infections and vaccinations already experienced,” said public health policy expert Anish TS. “Island countries and countries that adopted strict containment are still at risk because a good proportion of uninfected vulnerable populations still exists. (It is) better to focus on local data because the situation in different nations are different,” he added.

Indeed South Asian countries from where India gets most of its footfall are witnessing high case counts. Japan, for example, is registering over 40,000 daily cases now. Indonesia is reporting 6,000-7,000 daily Covid-19 cases, Malaysia around 3,500 daily cases, and Thailand has seen a 25 per cent spike in daily cases recently.

Thailand, however, has no Covid-19 related restrictions now for entry as its daily cases were averaging 500-600 a day. Japan still requires a vaccination certficate for entering the country.