UK’s non-recognition of Africa-administered vaccines regrettable – AU

…South Africa discontent over its inclusion in Britain’s coronavirus “red list”

The African Union’s (AU) top health official called Britain’s lack of recognition for coronavirus vaccines administered in Africa regrettable, saying on Thursday it sends a confusing public health message.

England announced last week that it would expand the list of countries from which it recognises vaccines, adding 17 others beyond the initial list of the United States and Europe. None of those countries are in Africa. The British government sets coronavirus policy for England, while Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are in charge of their own rules.

“We regret that the UK would take this position. We are calling on them to review this because it doesn’t speak to the spirit of true solidarity and cooperation,” said Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention director John Nkengasong.

“If … you send us vaccines and we use those vaccines and you say you don’t recognise people that have been immunised with those vaccines… it sends a very challenging message for us,” he said.

The British High Commission in Kenya said in a joint statement with the Kenyan Health Ministry on Tuesday that it takes time to set up a system to recognise vaccine certificates for international travel.

Richard Mihigo, a World Health Organization official, echoed this, saying the issue is fundamentally about certificates.

“We need to see how some of these certificates that are generated could be mutually recognised by different countries,” Mihigo, coordinator for the WHO’s Immunization and Vaccines Development Programme Africa, told a news conference on Thursday.

However, Africa’s vaccination rate is still very low. Just 4% of Africans have been vaccinated and much of the continent remains in the midst of a third wave, Nkengasong said

Monthly vaccine shipments to the continent would have to jump seven-fold to reach a United Nations goal of 70% immunisation of the population by September 2022, WHO Africa said in a separate statement.

Meanwhile ,South Africa is seething over Britain’s decision to keep the country on its coronavirus “red list,” a move that means travellers must pay for pricey hotel quarantine on their return to the UK.

Renowned for its wildlife and breathtaking scenery, South Africa is struggling to recover from the crippling blow coronavirus dealt to a tourism industry that directly accounts for three percent of the nation’s economy and — prior to the pandemic — was one of the few employment bright spots, providing more than 700,000 jobs.

Shut off from the rest of the world for most of 2020 and then blacklisted by several governments over the discovery of the Beta variant in December, South Africa is slowly starting to see a trickle of high-paying foreign visitors as infection rates fall.

Travellers coming from Europe and the US, South Africa’s biggest tourism markets along with the UK, can currently holiday and then self-isolate at home upon return — a hassle that some are prepared to take.

But the UK has kept South Africa on its red list of high-risk countries, meaning anyone arriving from South Africa is forced to quarantine in a hotel for 10 days, costing more than $2,400 (2,000 euros) per person.The stratospheric cost rules the country out for most British tourists.

With more than 400,000 visitors a year in pre-pandemic times, the UK was South Africa’s biggest source of long-haul travellers, especially during the northern hemisphere winter.

Some British nationals such as Claire Alexander have been stuck in South Africa for over a year because of the costly restrictions.

“I’ve just spoken to my 91-year papa in Stirling and it’s pretty sore knowing I can’t get home,” said the mother of two, whose youngest child has yet to meet “his Scottish clan”.

Marc Mendelson, a professor of infectious diseases at the University of Cape Town, is a Briton who earned his PhD at Cambridge’s prestigious Addenbrooks Hospital.He said he was “embarrassed” by his home country’s government.

“Misinformation, misrepresentation, outdated & inaccurate science,” he tweeted this week.

Reuters