Indians look to travel to the UK to get a shot of the Covid vaccine

Last updated on February 21st, 2023 at 12:22 pm

The Covid vaccine: As the United Kingdom on Wednesday became the first country to approve the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine against COVID-19, Indians became excited to visit the country to get a shot of the vaccine. 

A report revealed that as soon as the UK made the official announcement, travel agents started getting numerous calls of people wanting to go to London to get themselves vaccinated. In fact one of the travel agents is planning a three-night package for Indians so that they can be benefited from the mass vaccination drive. 

The British government asserted that the vaccination drive will become earlier than first announced and it might be as early as the beginning of next week. 

One of the Indian news agencies, PTI, reported that a Mumbai based travel agent said that people are considering all possibilities of going to the UK. They are curious of “how and when and if” traveling to the country is possible to get Covid-19 vaccine.  

He said, “I have told them it is too early to say (whether Indians can get vaccines in the UK). Anyway, the first in line to get the vaccine would be the elderly and health workers in the UK who are most vulnerable to the coronavirus.”

Not only travel agents but travel sites are also flooded with inquiries. The co-founder of one of the travel websites, EaseMyTrip, Nishant Pitti said in a statement that though this not exactly the season when people would want to go the UK but soon after the announcement of approval of Pfizer vaccine, he has received queries from some Indians who can afford to go to London. 

But he did not give much expectations to these people as the company was waiting for clarity from the British side. The company is enquiring about the compulsory quarantine guidelines and requirements for travellers who want to get vaccinated. Another point where details are required is to know whether Indian passport holders are eligible to get the shot. 

“We are dealing with an airline to offer fixed price seats. We already have deals with London hotels. And we are planning to do some deals with a hospital over there so that we can generate a package for that,” he said.

According to the current UK government rules, from December 15 onwards, every forign arrival will stay in self-isolation for five days after which there will be PCR test on the sixth day. The traveller can only leave self-isolation if tested to be Covid-19 negative.  

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