Kenya warns of ‘vaccine apartheid’ as it hits back at the UK over travel ban move

CNN — Kenya has sounded the alarm over a potential coronavirus “vaccine apartheid” playing out between countries, as it accused the United Kingdom of instituting a “discriminatory policy” after London issued a travel ban on the east African nation. “Kenya continues to see, with deep regret, that vaccine producing countries around the world have begun practicing a form of vaccine nationalism, possessiveness, and discrimination, coupled with a vaccine hoarding attitude that can only be described as a form of ‘vaccine apartheid’,” Kenya’s Foreign Ministry said in a lengthy press statement, issued in response to the UK’s travel ban. “If you look at other parts of the world, even our own continent, you’ll see that Kenya is a population of 50 million people and with its highly mobile population has still been able to do the necessary things.” An urgent need for vaccines Amid the row over the travel ban, some Kenyans – including those in government – are highlighting the vaccine disparity between London and Nairobi on social media. First came Vaccine Nationalism now we have Vaccine Apartheid,” while sharing the Kenyan Foreign Ministry’s press statement on the UK travel ban on Twitter. Kenya, a Commonwealth nation, has requested that the UK – a country with which it has a long-standing strategic relationship – share its vaccines, with the Foreign Ministry statement noting: “Kenya is aware that the United Kingdom has in bigger quantities than it currently has use for.” The UK – with a population of around 66 million people – has more than 400 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines from eight candidates on order.