"Treated Like Criminals" — 2 M'sians Denied Entry Into Germany Over Vaccine Criteria
One of the brothers hoped that the story of their bitter experience of allegedly being treated like criminals by the German Immigration authorities will be a cautionary tale for Sinovac recipients.
Earlier this week, two brothers from Malaysia wished to celebrate Ramadan with their youngest brother in Dusseldorf, Germany.
The dream trip, however, turned into a 'nightmare' for the brothers.
The two Malaysians were not allowed to enter the country over the vaccine they received.
Travelling from Kuala Terengganu, they were accompanying their parents, who were allowed entry.
According to one brother, something was not right when they arrived at the airport on 19 March. The brother, who wanted to be known only as Fariq, 30, said that they are disappointed over what happened.
The brothers, who returned to Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) on Tuesday, 22 March, alleged they were treated like criminals
This, despite the fact that they had reportedly complied with every standard operating procedure and screening protocols that were set by their travel agency and Turkish Airlines, Fariq said.
Commenting further, he hoped that the story of their bitter experience of being treated like criminals by the German Immigration authorities will be a cautionary tale for Sinovac recipients.
They still expressed gratitude for being able to return home after spending 15 hours on two different flights.
While the brothers are fully vaccinated with the CoronaVac vaccine, Germany is one of the few countries that does not accept the vaccine
CoronaVac is developed by Chinese biopharmaceutical company Sinovac Biotech.
Currently, Germany only recognises these COVID-19 vaccines:
- Pfizer-BioNTech,
- Moderna,
- Novavax, and
- AstraZeneca.
Additionally, those who have received Johnson & Johnson/Janssen vaccine must have received a second dose of an approved vaccine to be accepted as fully vaccinated by the German authorities.
The two Malaysian brothers had received Pfizer-BioNTech as their booster jab.