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UK not against vaccines administered in Nigeria – NPHCDA

Dr  Faisal Shuaib

Executive Director of the NPHCDA, Dr  Faisal Shuaib

THE National Primary Healthcare Development Agency on Tuesday quoted the United Kingdom as saying that it does not have issues with the vaccine being administered in Nigeria.

This is as it stated that the UK government said Nigeria was not on its red list.

The Executive Director of NPHCDA, Faisal Shuaib, stated these during the weekly press briefing on COVID-19 vaccination in Abuja.

He said, “As you may be aware, the UK government released a new travel advisory which would take effect from Monday October 4, 2021.

“There have been concerns by Nigerians on how this would affect us.

“We will like to clarify that the guidance provided by the UK government is that they will want to simplify the classification of countries from green, amber and red to just red and green list. Therefore, countries that are currently on the amber list may fall into either of these two categories.

“We have had preliminary discussions with officials of the UK government. Without prejudice to the information yet to be released, we have been assured that Nigeria will maintain the status quo. That is to say, Nigeria will not be on the red list.”

Shuaib added that the UK government does not have issues with the vaccines being administered in Nigeria.

He added, “The UK government has also stated that they have no issues with the vaccines used in Nigeria. The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, also known as COVISHIELD that is used in Nigeria was approved by the UK regulatory body (MHRA), other stringent regulatory authorities and the World Health Organisation. So, the UK government does recognise the vaccines used in Nigeria.”

The NPHCDA boss said at the moment, there was no change in the guidelines for entry of Nigerians into the UK.

He added that a UK citizen on entry into Nigeria, regardless of the vaccination status, would be made to do a PCR test and isolated for seven days.

The same thing, he said, applied to Nigerians entering the UK who are also required to do PCR test and isolate for a few days.

“This is called the principle of reciprocity in diplomatic circles,” he explained.

Also speaking at the briefing, the WHO Country Representative, Dr Walter Mulombo, urged Nigerians to continue to embrace non-pharmaceutical interventions.

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Deborah Tolu-Kolawole

Deborah, has three years of experience covering the education sector, trade unions, politics and international affairs, and is a journalist with The PUNCH

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