shippingposition
  • Home
  • News
  • Editorial
    • Vox Pop
  • Maritime safety
  • Oil and Gas
  • Personality
  • Health
No Result
View All Result
shippingposition

Home » OPINION: I’m Nigerian. I’m Vaccinated. Europe Won’t Let Me In

OPINION: I’m Nigerian. I’m Vaccinated. Europe Won’t Let Me In

by Joshua
July 4, 2021
in Health

By Ifeanyi Nsofor

Covishield is the brand name used for the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine manufactured in India’s Serum Institute, administered to millions of people, mostly in low- and middle-income countries. It’s not on the list of approved vaccines for the European Union — although the AstraZeneca version made in the United Kingdom and at European sites is.

Vaccine

I’m fully vaccinated. I want to travel to Europe. And fully vaccinated visitors are welcome.

But I can’t get in.

That’s because the vaccine I received is not on Europe’s list of four approved vaccines: Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and Oxford-AstraZeneca, but only the version manufactured in the United Kingdom or Europe and known as Vaxzevria. The version that’s much more widely used around the world, which is made by the Serum Institute of India and branded as Covishield, is not on the list of vaccines approved by the European Medicines Agency. And that’s the vaccine I got — along with hundreds of millions of other people, mostly in lower- and middle-income countries.

This exclusion is spelled out in the rules for the COVID Digital Green Pass, being launched on July 1 to help ease travel within Europe for vaccinated travelers. Covishield is not included.

In January, I wrote about being invisible in the global COVID-19 vaccine campaign. I was disillusioned and did not know when I would receive my first dose of the vaccine because richer Western nations were buying up most of available vaccines. At the same period, only 25 doses of any COVID-19 vaccine had been administered across Africa with a population of more than 1.2 billion.

However, through the COVAX vaccine distribution program, Nigeria received its first batch of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines on March 2. Three weeks later, on March 23, I received my first dose. I was elated.

Two months later, on May 25, I completed my COVID-19 vaccination with dose #2. I felt on top of the world. I felt I was ready to travel to any country because I was protected by the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.

In the wake of the Green Pass announcement, there is growing uproar about the exclusion of Covishield.

The Serum Institute, which is the largest manufacturer of vaccines in the world, has shared this response to the Green Pass rules:

I realise that a lot of Indians who have taken COVISHIELD are facing issues with travel to the E.U., I assure everyone, I have taken this up at the highest levels and hope to resolve this matter soon, both with regulators and at a diplomatic level with countries.

But in the meantime, my situation has not changed. Once again, I feel invisible.

COVID-19 vaccine nationalism has taken different dimensions, all to the detriment of people from poorer countries. COVAX, the vaccine distribution program co-led by the World Health Organization, has distributed more than 89 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine to countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America. More than 90% of which are manufactured in India, so none of these individuals will be able to travel to Europe any time soon either.

Why would a vaccine using the same recipe from the same pharmaceutical firm not be accorded similar respect simply because it is manufactured in India rather than in a rich European country?

This news comes at a time when Africa is still in dire need of vaccines. The COVAX facility will only provide enough for just 20% of Africans. Right now, fewer than 2% of Africans have so far been vaccinated. With the exception of the vaccine donations promised by President Biden, African leaders often come up against brick walls as they scramble for ways to buy more vaccines.

Read Also:  Nigeria Hits 3.4m COVID-19 Vaccine Jabs In 2 Rounds — NPHDA

Those brick walls are part of a deliberate global architecture of unfairness, said Strive Masiyiwa (a Zimbabwean billionaire and African Union special envoy to the African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team), speaking at the Milken Institute’s “Future of Health Summit” to explore global coordination and equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. It’s another example of vaccine nationalism, described as a catastrophic moral failure.by Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization.

The ramifications of the inequity of the COVID Digital Green Pass are far-reaching. As cities begin to reopen globally, many Africans and others from lower and middle income countries are planning on traveling to Europe to attend conferences, visit relatives, resume school or just have a vacation. These individuals may have booked their air tickets, made hotel reservations, paid school fees. They have received their full doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and were confident they were protected from COVID-19 infection. They followed the vaccination guidelines approved by the World Health Organization. They should be celebrated.

Last week, I spoke on decolonizing global health at a virtual meeting, organized by the London International Development Centre and four United Kingdom universities. After a successful meeting, I began to think that such invitations to speak would soon become in-person and I may have to travel. But if I cannot, will I miss out on these opportunities and in-person connections?

And what are my options? Do I and other recipients of the Serum Institute vaccine now have to take two new doses of other COVID-19 vaccines, or the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine approved by the European Union?

Is it even safe for someone to take four doses of COVID-19 vaccines? Is it right?

My Igbo tribe in Nigeria would describe this latest COVID-19 vaccine inequity and denial of entry to fully vaccinated Africans, Indians and others like myself as pushing someone and then dictating where the person falls.

I am tired, weary, pained, disappointed and let down by the consistent inequity people like me have faced during this COVID-19 pandemic. This can no longer be allowed to go on. It must stop.

The European Union must revise this new guideline. They must view everyone who has been fully vaccinated with the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine as the same. As equals. Period!

Ifeanyi Nsofor is the director of policy and advocacy at Nigeria Health Watch and is a senior New Voices fellow at the Aspen Institute.

*(AFP)

shippingposition

Kindly like us on Facebook


Tags: Covishield

Related Posts

KNOW YOUR BODY PARTS: THE HEART

KNOW YOUR BODY PARTS: THE HEART

June 30, 2025
Why Your Favourite Seasoning Cubes May Be Hurting Your Kidneys

Why Your Favourite Seasoning Cubes May Be Hurting Your Kidneys

June 30, 2025
Contraceptive Pills Can’t Cause Cervical Cancer – Expert

Contraceptive Pills Can’t Cause Cervical Cancer – Expert

June 30, 2025
ONIONS: The Good Old Healing Vegetable

KNOW YOUR BODY PARTS: The Liver

June 16, 2025

Discussion about this post

Latest News

Vessels Expected At Lagos Ports As At 9th July, 2025

FG Donates 3,500 Life Jackets to Boost Waterways Safety in Ogun State

July 9, 2025

Dangote Commends NPA-Led OSS Committee, Donates Bus to Support Operations

Customs Intercepts ₦654m Worth of Undeclared Foreign Currency at Kano Airport, Hands Over Suspects to EFCC

Vessels Expected At Lagos Ports As At 9th July, 2025

CRFFN Dismisses Viral Court Judgement Reports, Reaffirms Regulatory Mandate over Freight Forwarders

Lagos Govt. Dismantles Illegal Checkpoints Along Badagry Expressway

Nigeria Customs Sensitises International Airline Operators on Currency Declaration

PHOTO NEWS Collaboration For Trade Facilitation

Vessels Expected At Lagos Ports As At 8th July, 2025

Nigerian Exporters Lament as Road Freight to Ghana via Benin, Togo Costs Over ₦10 Million Per Truck  

NIWA Responds to Lagos State’s Call to Halt Sand-Filling Approvals on Waterways 

Shippers’ Council Recovers Over N5.5 Million in Container Deposit Refunds, Demurrage Disputes in Q1

kindly like our Facebook page

Health

Contraceptive Pills Can’t Cause Cervical Cancer – Expert
Health

Contraceptive Pills Can’t Cause Cervical Cancer – Expert

June 30, 2025

Mrs Roseline Akinlabi, Adolescent and Youth Sexual Reproductive Health Desk Officer, Osun Primary Healthcare Board, says contraceptive pills cannot cause...

ONIONS: The Good Old Healing Vegetable

KNOW YOUR BODY PARTS: The Liver

June 16, 2025
ONIONS: The Good Old Healing Vegetable

ONIONS: The Good Old Healing Vegetable

June 16, 2025
Why Prostate Disorder Cases Are Increasing Among Nigerian Men – Experts

Why Prostate Disorder Cases Are Increasing Among Nigerian Men – Experts

June 1, 2025
20m Nigerians Live With Mental Health Issues, Says WHO

20m Nigerians Live With Mental Health Issues, Says WHO

June 1, 2025
Health Facts You Didn’t Know

How Your Habit Affects Fertility

May 19, 2025
Fruits For Raining Season

Fruits For Raining Season

May 19, 2025
See Mental Illness Like Other Treatable Diseases – Says Suicide Survivor

Health Facts You Didn’t Know

May 19, 2025
Alligator Pepper: Benefits, FAQ, Side Effects, & Warning

Alligator Pepper: Benefits, FAQ, Side Effects, & Warning

April 28, 2025
Water And Health: The Relationship That Helps Life

Water And Health: The Relationship That Helps Life

April 28, 2025

© 2021 Shippingposition

Navigate Site

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Sitemap
  • Terms

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • News
  • Coast To Coast
  • Oil and Gas
  • Maritime Education
  • The Terminals
  • Maritime safety

© 2021 Shippingposition