So is this a right-wing plot to block immigration?
Haha, no.
These people can still come to the UK, they just have to suffer through a humiliating all-expenses-paid free hotel vacation.
England’s new Covid travel rules and refusal to recognise vaccines administered across huge swaths of the world have sparked outrage and bewilderment across Latin America, Africa and south Asia, with critics denouncing what they called an illogical and discriminatory policy.
The transport secretary, Grant Shapps, described England’s new rules, unveiled last Friday, as “a new simplified system for international travel”. “The purpose is to make it easier for people to travel,” Shapps said.
But in many parts of the world there is anger and frustration at the government’s decision to recognise only vaccinations given in a select group of countries.
Under the new rules, travellers fully vaccinated with Oxford/AstraZeneca, Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna or Janssen shots in the US, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea or an EU country will be considered “fully vaccinated” and exempt from quarantine when they arrive in England from an amber list country. But people who have been fully vaccinated with the same vaccines in Africa or Latin America, as well as other countries including India, will be considered “not fully vaccinated” and forced to quarantine for 10 days on arrival from an amber list country.
On Monday the Indian politician Shashi Tharoor announced he was pulling out of a series of appearances in England to protest the “offensive” decision to ask fully vaccinated Indians to quarantine.
“There isn’t a single person I have spoken to who isn’t angry about this. People are perplexed,” said one exasperated Latin American diplomat.
“How can a Pfizer or Moderna or AstraZeneca vaccine that is administered [in Latin America] not be sufficient for someone to be allowed in? I just don’t see how this can be acceptable. I simply cannot get my head around it,” they added. “I cannot explain what is behind this – I just know that it is very, very, very unfair.”
A west African diplomat condemned the restrictions as “discriminatory”. “[But] it’s not even the discrimination that concerns me the most, it’s the message it sends out,” they added.
“All around the world we’re struggling with vaccine hesitancy. There’s all sorts of fake news. When you say, ‘We are not going to accept the vaccine from Africa’, you lend credence to these kinds of theories. It’s only going to create a situation where it allows the pandemic to be prolonged.”
Yes, this is fuel for all sorts of theories.
People on the internet have proposed that different groups of people are getting injected with different things even when they receive the same brand of “vaccines.”
Some have gone as far as to suggest that the above could even be happening on an individual basis.
It is naive to expect everyone to be getting the same injection, just as it is naive to believe that the elite, public figures and politicians who say they’ve been vaccinated were really vaccinated, but this could just be a plot to get people to accept the digital version of the passport — the one tied to people’s biometrics.
They’d have to come out and say that due to rampant corruption, they can’t trust the veracity of the paper passports coming from these countries.
That would anger people, but people are already angered.
so now the UK said they won’t be considering ppl who vaccinated in South America as vaccinated lmao I literally took the vaccine they give in other countries (like USA) that are accepted…so like…what’s the explanation besides blatantly xenophobia?
— ana ✨ (@pixieanadraws) September 21, 2021
Now you should stop being racist and recognise the vaccine administraded in Africa and South America because they are the same AZ, Pfizer and Moderna done in the UK#stopracism
— FMBergamaschi (@FMBERGAMASCHI) September 20, 2021
UK govt donated 10 million vaccines to countries in Africa and South America then turned around to say if you get vaccinated in those places, you’re considered “unvaccinated”. Make it make sense. Were compromised vaccines sent to those countries???
— AA (@Adxpillar) September 18, 2021
UK’s travel policies are discriminative & blatantly political. they’re tearing families apart with no real grounds for the countries that remain on red – many of which are in Africa. by refusing to recognise vaccines administered in Africa, South America etc. how do we progress?
— IG: kasalinaa 🥑 (@kasalinaa) September 21, 2021
The UK is so wild, imagine donating Covid 19 vaccines to poorer continents such as Africa and South America, only to put them of your travel red list. West be wildin’
— Joe Teffo (@SirJoeTeffo) September 21, 2021
UK has just said it will not recognize travelers vaccinated in Africa & South America as such they'll have to undergo a 14 days quarantine. That means vaccines sent to Africa are not right much as UK is the biggest donor of covid vaccines to Africa.
— MATHIUS L (@LuwagaMathius) September 20, 2021
@RwandaHealth @RBCRwanda
Are the vaccines we are taking in africa,South America and other inferior to the ones in the UK, or is simply a matter of discrimination? https://t.co/2iv2rsAp8w— Umusaza mukuru (@umukambwe13) September 20, 2021