Irish hotel quarantine for those vaccinated with Sinopharm

Looking to travel to Ireland this summer?

Well if you have been vaccinated with the Sinopharm vaccine, you better prepare to spend 10 days quarantine in a hotel at the cost of €1,875 (that’s some Dhs8,272).

The news comes after the Irish Government announced that any traveller who has received two doses of the AstraZeneca, Janssen, Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech would be allowed to quarantine at home for a minimum of 10 days.

However, those who have received the Chinese state-backed Sinopharm jab or the Russian Sputnik V vaccine will not be exempt from hotel quarantine as both shots have not been approved by the European Medicines Agency.

All travellers intending to receive exemption from hotel quarantine must produce a negative PCR test no more than 72 hours before their arrival in Ireland.

The move will come as blow to thousands of Irish expats living and working in the UAE who were inoculated with Chinese vaccine earlier in the year.

They had been calling on the Irish Government for full exemption from hotel quarantine for those who had been vaccinated.

Before Tuesday April 21, only Dubai residents could receive the AstraZeneca and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

However, the Abu Dhabi Government announced that the jab will be administered in the capital and across the emirate by Abu Dhabi Health Services Company (SEHA), and is available to everyone except those who are participants of Phase III of the clinical trial; have received a single or multiple dose of any other COVID-19 vaccine; pregnant women; and children under 16.