CHENNAI: Students from Tamil Nadu who are flying abroad for studies seek Covid-19 vaccine certificates with their passport numbers linked with them.
The students say that the foreign universities in the UK, Europe, and the United States only recognize a vaccine certificate linked with a passport number as an official document to acknowledge if a person is vaccinated for Covid-19.
While several states like Kerala have announced that the certificates would be issued to students traveling abroad, the students from Tamil Nadu have no clarity on whether they would get one.
Naresh Narendernath, who is flying from Chennai to Boston, Massachusetts in the USA for his higher studies, said vaccine certificates presented here are linked with Aadhar cards and not passports.
“We are told that we need to link the passport with the vaccine certificate and now, we are facing difficulties as we are not able to update our vaccine information to the portal,” he said.
He said that even if the students are not vaccinated, it’s not an issue, as the USA has said that it would vaccinate students on arrival with the Pfizer vaccine.
However, the problem is for those who’ve already taken the vaccine here.
Students said that they may have to go for mandatory quarantine for about 7 to 14 days if they do not produce the vaccine certificates.
Supriya Giridharan, who is flying from Chennai to Dublin for a master's at the National University of Ireland Galway, said there is no information on how to link passports and get the passport numbers printed on the certificates.
“If we are not vaccinated or partially vaccinated (with one dose), we would have to be in a 14-day hotel quarantine which would cost as well,” she said.
Students also are in a fix as some, who took Covaxin, are not recognized as vaccinated in foreign countries.
Sumitha R, who is flying abroad to the US, said that she would be proceeding with an RTPCR negative certificate and would undergo quarantine as Covaxin was not approved by the Food and Drug Administration in the US.