China’s Sinovac, India’s Covishield recognised in Australia, giving hope to international students

Pictured with her friends at Luna Park, Xu Jingxian (second from left) hopes to return to Australia to finish her law degree.(Supplied)

When law student Xu Jingxian travelled home to China in December last year, she hoped it would not be long before she was back hitting the books in Sydney.

She was able to be fully vaccinated in China and hoped that might make it safe for her to travel, but there was a problem: Australia did not recognise her Sinovac vaccination.

That’s set to change now that Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has recognised China’s Sinovac vaccine — and Covishield, an Indian-made version of AstraZeneca — for incoming international travellers.

Those vaccines are not approved for use in Australia — so people living here will not be offered them — but Sinovac and Covishield will be considered “recognised vaccines” for “incoming international travellers to be regarded as appropriately vaccinated”.

However, some are disappointed that Sinopharm — which is widely used in China and has been approved for emergency use by the World Health Organization (WHO) — along with India’s Covaxin, have not yet made the cut.

The change in regulations comes as Australia prepares to lift its ban on international travel for states with 80 per cent vaccination some time next month, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced on Friday.

That will allow fully vaccinated Australian citizens and permanent residents to quarantine at home for seven days, rather than undertaking hotel quarantine for 14 days, upon their return but will not apply to international students at first.

Nevertheless, the new vaccine recognition was welcomed by international students such as Ms Xu.

“I am very happy about the new policy. Now I think I can at least see the hope of returning to Australia on a student or visitor visa,” she said.

Denis Li, a Chinese student at Monash University in Melbourne, agreed.

“It’s definitely a good thing,” he said.

Mr Li has been stuck overseas doing online lectures for the first year of his two-year Masters of Education.

“The in-person courses have better interactions. It will not feel distant or boring. I still prefer to go to Australia,” he said.

Australia’s university sector has taken a huge a financial hit, with revenues falling $2.2 billion last year, largely because of a drop in international students.

“The Chinese community has a significant contribution to the Australian economy,” Ms Xu said.

“The Australian government will not explicitly say that it wants the Chinese students to return to Australia as soon as possible. It will make some concessions by relaxing the policy on the vaccine.”

Council of International Students Australia president Belle Lim said that, when NSW announced a pilot plan last week, she feared the vaccine requirement would exclude students from China and Nepal.

However, she hoped the TGA’s recognition of Sinovac and Covishield would help change that.

“We think that this is great news for students [who] have been stuck overseas for 18 months,” she said.

“These students have the right to receive the education that they paid for.”

Sinopharm not yet recognised

In the TGA’s initial report, it assessed six vaccines “that have been widely deployed in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as in national vaccination programs in countries such as China and India, from which Australia normally receives many international arrivals”.

In its advice, the TGA said it had insufficient data to recognise four vaccines at this stage — including China’s Sinopharm and CanSino jabs, India’s Covaxin from Bharat Biotech, and Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine.

Sinopharm has a reported efficacy of 79 per cent and was approved by the WHO about three weeks before Sinovac.

Used widely within China, Sinopharm has been administered to millions of people across the country and the globe.

However, the TGA’s advice said it did not have enough data on Sinopharm’s protection against severe infection nor the rate of admissions to hospital.

The TGA has been approached for additional comment.

Meanwhile, Gilbert Li is someone who would like to see Sinopharm recognised here.

Mr Li returned to Sydney in June this year after receiving two doses of Sinopharm in China, however, he was not able to get a vaccine certificate.