25th September, 2021
The United Kingdom Government has debunked stories that it does not recognise COVID-19 vaccines used in Nigeria.
High commissioner Ms.Catriona Laing debunked the stories, saying her country had donated 1.2 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to Nigeria, through COVAX.
“The UK Government is committed to global access to vaccines and is among the largest funders to COVAX.
” UK has donated 1.2 million vaccines specially to Nigeria through COVAX and will continue to provide support.
“UK strongly supports the work of the Nigerian health authorities and Nigeria’s vaccination campaign and strongly encourages all eligible residents in Nigeria to get vaccinated.
“I would like to emphasise that any statements that COVID-19 vaccines administered in Nigeria are not approved by the UK are completely untrue.
“The UK recognises the Oxford-Astra Zeneca, Moderna, Pfizer and Johnson and Johnson COVID 19 vaccines used in Nigeria, irrespective of where they are manufactured.” she said.
She allayed fears that Nigerians would be restricted from entering the UK from Oct. 4.
“The UK is committed to opening up international travel and we are using our COVID -19 vaccination certificate process.
” This is to enable those wishing to enter the UK to do so safety and we know this matters hugely to many people in the UK and Nigeria.
“From Oct. 4, the current system will be simplified and there will be a single red list of countries.
”Territories where stricter rules apply and there would be a rest of the world list with simplified travel measures.
“The rest of the world list will include countries currently on the UK’s amber list such as Nigeria.” she said.
COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access which is abbreviated as COVAX, is a worldwide initiative.
It aims at equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines directed by Gavi, the Vaccine alliance, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and the World Health Organisation (WHO).
It is one of the three pillars of the access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator, an initiative began in April 2020 by WHO, the European Commission and the government of France as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic.