England’s Coronavirus travel rules spark outrage around the world

England’s Coronavirus travel rules spark outrage around the world

England’s Coronavirus travel rules spark outrage around the world Credit: Pixabay

England’s Coronavirus travel rules spark outrage and claims of discrimination around the world.

Coronavirus travel rules in England have sparked outrage as vaccinations given in various countries are not being recognised. Latin America, Africa and south Asia have criticised the government’s decisions and claimed the travel rules are discriminatory.

Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary revealed the new rules last week and said they provide “a new simplified system for international travel”. Shapps also said that: “The purpose is to make it easier for people to travel.”

Sadly though many parts of the world have been left angry after vaccinations from Oxford/AstraZeneca, Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna and Janssen have only been recognised for the EU, US, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea.

When travellers have these vaccinations in Africa or Latin America for example, they are not being counted as having been fully vaccinated. This means that these travellers will still have to quarantine for 10 days when heading to the UK from an amber list country.

One diplomat from Latin America explained that the rules are unacceptable and said: “There isn’t a single person I have spoken to who isn’t angry about this. People are perplexed,”

“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,”

“I cannot explain what is behind this – I just know that it is very, very, very unfair.”

Another diplomat claimed that the restrictions are discriminatory and harmful. They said: “[But] it’s not even the discrimination that concerns me the most, it’s the message it sends out,”

“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.”


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Alex
Written by

Alex Glenn

Originally from the UK, Alex is based in Almeria and is a web reporter for The Euro Weekly News covering international and Spanish national news. Got a news story you want to share? Then get in touch at editorial@euroweeklynews.com.

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