Benzinga | Jun 28, 2021 02:20PM EDT

India Made AstraZeneca's COVID-19 Vaccine Not Eligible For EU Travel, Seeks Resolution: Reuters

* Serum Institute of India's (SII) CEO Adar Poonawalla said he was trying to resolve EU travel problems facing Indians inoculated with SII's licensed version of AstraZeneca Plc's (NASDAQ:AZN) COVID-19 vaccine.

* "I have taken this up at the highest levels and hope to resolve this matter soon, both with regulators and at a diplomatic level with countries," Poonawalla said on Twitter.

* India's Ministry of External Affairs has raised Covishield's lack of recognition by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

* The EMA said the only COVID-19 vaccine from AstraZeneca for which a marketing authorization application had been submitted and evaluated was Vaxzevria.

* Covishield does not currently have marketing authorization in the EU, even though it may use a similar production technology to Vaxzevria, the agency said.

* In addition to the AstraZeneca shot in the region, the other EU-recognized vaccines are those made by Moderna Inc (NASDAQ:MRNA), Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) - BioNTech SE (NASDAQ:BNTX), and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ).

* A European Union vaccine passport program will allow people to travel freely within the bloc from July 1, as long as they have had one of four Western-made vaccines.

* In April, Reuters reported that the EU was seeking 10 million Covishield doses from SII to meet a shortfall before India halted all exports amid a domestic infection surge.

* Price Action: AZN shares are up 1.03% at $59.96 during the market session on the last check Monday.