Apartheid In Traveling: Kenyans Blocked From Traveling To EU Over The Indian Vaccine

Kenyans planning to visit the European Union (EU) will have to stay in the dark for a while after the country was omitted from the list of “safe” from which visitors will be allowed to travel into the EU.

According to EU guidelines, all foreigners must have been immunized with a Covid-19 vaccine approved by the EU. Currently, the Covishield vaccine being used in Kenya is not among those approved in the EU. Sputnik V, which was also taken by a few people, has not been approved.

“The approvals for vaccines for use within the European Union are issued by the European Medicines Agency (EMA). We are aware that the Covishield vaccine produced in India has not yet received the EMA approval, but the EMA is currently examining it,” said the EU official in Nairobi.

AstraZeneca vaccine requested the approvals for the EU approved version several months ago, while the India version (Covishield) request came in much later, the official said. The AstraZeneca vaccine is made in several sites across Europe and also in India. The version made in India is called Covishield.

“We cannot pre-empt the decision of the EMA, so there is no guarantee but the indications are that the outcome is likely to be positive for Covishield. A decision is due in the coming weeks,” he added.

Data from Kenya’s Ministry of Health says 987,277 persons have so far received their first dose against the COVID-19 disease in the country.  298,334 are aged 58+, Health workers 168,056, Teachers 154,262, Security Officers 83,766 & 282,859 persons drawn from other categories have received their first dose.

As of today, a total of 128,744 have received their second dose. Of these, 37,918 are Health Workers, Others 33,926, those aged above 58 years 34,269, Teachers 13,673 while 8,958 Security Officers have also received their second dose.

Read More: Kenya To Get 24 Million Doses Of Covid-19 – Sources