South Africa Holds Talks With U.K. on Travel, Vaccine Policies
By Janice Kew
Sep 27, 2021, 8:27 PM
Word Count: 203
The outcomes will be considered as part of the next review of U.K. border measures over the next two weeks, South Africa’s Department of Health said in a statement on Monday. The U.K. is also looking to extend recognition of vaccine certificates “as rapidly as possible,” the state institution said, without citing anyone on either side.
South Africa has reacted in fury about its continued inclusion on the U.K.’s so-called red list, which bars foreigners outright and forces British citizens to undergo hotel quarantine on arrival at a cost of 2,285 pounds ($3,132). The U.K. also won’t recognize visitors as vaccinated unless they received doses in a select group of countries, regardless of which shot they were given.
Read More: U.K. Faces Backlash Over Selective Vaccine Policy at Border
South Africa has officially exited its third wave of coronavirus infections, the National Institute of Communicable Diseases has said, with daily new infections falling to below 1,000 on Sunday. About 21% of the adult population is fully vaccinated.
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Boris the grubby little shop keeper, will go to any lengths to squeeze a better trade deal for Britain it seems. Perhaps this is just a ruse to get cheaper oranges? Disappointing that Britain was quite happy for South Africans to die on their behalf in both World Wars but now considers us a pariah.
It looks increasingly probable that the Brits don’t believe anything that this government says or does.
Welcome to the club!
Sadly it seems the colonial condescension continues – and that’s from a Brit living in SA!
Our vaccines are rejected because they are administered by a black emerging country – or why else
bottom line : England is annoyed that we snubbed their vaccine. Have a look at what black developing nation countries’ vaccine programs are acceptable…
or perhaps our High Commission or Ambassador in London is not doing his/her job, taking the lead from their hopeless South Africa public service!
The continued ‘red-listing’ of South Africa is yet another example of the total incompetence of the Boris Johnson government. They completely fail to recognise that South Africa ranks amongst the most medically proficient countries in the world.
While I am not privy to the UK’s reasoning behind retaining SA on the so-called red-list, it is noteworthy that the countries that SA complained of (Kenya, et al) as receiving preferential treatment over our admitedly very good scientific, communicable diseases and virology regimes are all countries that have signed and ratified a bilateral travel treaty with the UK.
South Africa has not signed the treaty, has stalled doing so since Thabo Mbeki was president, and is one of the reasons, along with concern over the veracity and reliability of SA documentation from Home Affairs, that the UK introduced/uprated visa and job permit requirements for South Africans visiting and working in the UK in about 2009.
In other words, it is not our science that the UK is concerned about but rather the trustworthiness of our official documentation. Our vaccine documentation is haphazard, insecure and easily faked or forged. Would you trust SA vaccine documentation? I wouldn’t.