Despite the fuss the federal government of Nigeria is making trying to subtly force Nigerians to get vaccinated, the government of the United Kingdom (UK) has said people who received their own coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine in Africa, India, and certain other places will be considered as “unvaccinated” when they travel and will be treated as such.
This news is coming as a surprise to most people in the affected countries who took the exact vaccine their contemporaries received in the United Kingdom and other European countries. It is on record that African countries including Nigeria have not produced any COVID-19 vaccine.
The vaccines being administered in countries such as Nigeria are the ones donated to Nigeria and manufactured by the same makers. So, it is not immediately understandable why the United Kingdom will condemn jabs administered in some countries except of course the vaccines sent to Africa and some of the listed countries by the United Kingdom government has more to it than they are telling the people.
The UK listed certain countries whose vaccination exercise is recognised and stated that those who did not get their vaccines from the listed countries would be treated as unvaccinated. An aviation Analyst, Alex Macheras made this known on Twitter.
He posted: “UK government confirm tonight that if a person has been vaccinated in Africa, or South America, or countries including UAE, India, Turkey, Jordan, Thailand, Russia, you are considered “unvaccinated” and must follow “unvaccinated” rules = 10-day home quarantine and tests.”
We gathered that the countries whose vaccines are not recognised are reportedly not happy with the UK and Ministers from some of the countries have made their grievance known. They have questioned why the UK will only acknowledge those vaccinated in the listed countries and pointed out that some countries left out of the list administered the exact same vaccines as the vaccines being administered in the United Kingdom.
One country’s minister told Macheras: “In our first meeting with Liz Truss, UK new Foreign Secretary, we expect her to explain why our Pfizer jabs are supposedly different to Pfizer jabs in UK or Europe.”
