NADRA vaccine
certificate declared
acceptable in UK

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ISLAMABAD: The UK will completely abolish the ‘amber list’ by changing the rules on corona virus from Monday, and four London-approved vaccinators will be allowed to come to the UK without quarantine and isolation.

In addition, the Pakistani vaccine certificate will be acceptable in the UK, but Chinese vaccinators have not yet been allowed. This was confirmed by the British High Commissioner to Pakistan Dr. Christian Turner in a conversation with Dawn.

The UK will allow travelers from countries not included in the red list who have received the AstraZeneca, Johnsons & Johnsons, Moderna or Pfizer vaccines.

It may be recalled that Pakistan’s name was removed from the ‘Red List’ on September 22.

However, earlier information showed that the UK did not accept any vaccine in Pakistan, including its own approved vaccine, which meant that Pakistanis would be quarantined for 10 days, but this will now be changed.

“I’m just going through the process of formally allowing two bureaucrats to recognize each other’s vaccination certificates, and that could take a few more days,” said Christian Turner.

“But basically you will come to London in October and if you have had any of these (approved) vaccines, show your NADRA certificate which is fine,” he said.

“It doesn’t matter where the vaccine comes from, you have good certificates here, you show it will be a big change and everything will be even better,” he said.

The British High Commissioner also acknowledged that Pakistan’s stay on the Red List was “extremely disappointing”, leading to the loss of contacts between the two countries and the “difficulties” each faced.

He said there was, however, a “real scientific difference” between the two countries’ public health agencies over their ability to detect the virus in Pakistan.

British High Commissioner Dr. Christian Turner

He said the UK was particularly concerned about the beta variant that had evolved in South Africa and that it could “weaken the effectiveness of the AstraZeneca vaccine”.

“If the beta variant had returned to the larger and more important community that connects our communities, especially the UK and Pakistan, we would have had a major public health problem and this would have weakened our vaccination process,” the British High Commissioner said.

“We had a very detailed discussion between the two public health science teams, led by Dr. Faisal Sultan from Pakistan, so that we can really understand what we know about the son and what we don’t,” he said. It gave us the confidence to change the Red List.

He lauded the National Command and Control Center and the medical team, including Dr Faisal Sultan, for their “extraordinary performance in eradicating the global epidemic”.