As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to threaten the lives and rights of refugees, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has welcomed the Rwandan governments vaccination last week of 416 refugees one of the first countries in Africa to do so.
Nearly one year since the countrys first registered COVID-19 case and as part of Rwandas national vaccination drive, the Rwandan Ministry of Health inoculated 224 refugees residing in the Emergency Transit Mechanism (ETM) centre in Gashora and 192 refugees in six refugee settlements working on the front lines of the pandemic as community health workers and cleaners or security guards at health clinics in the refugee settlements.
UNHCR said in a statement that some 230,000 people in Rwanda have been vaccinated against COVID-19, one week after a countrywide campaign began.
We commend Rwandas inclusion of refugees in its response to the pandemic, said Clementine Nkweta-Salami, UNHCRs Regional Bureau Director Bureau for the East, Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes. We appeal to all countries to include refugees in their vaccination programmes on par with nationals to ensure that everyone is safe.
There are nearly 138,000 refugees hosted by the country, mainly from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Burundi.
The first dose of COVID-19 vaccine is being given to high-risk groups such as health workers, teachers, elderly people with chronic health issues, those aged over 65 years, and other frontline workers. Refugees who meet these criteria are included in the first stage of Rwandas vaccination campaign.
UNHCR reiterates that refugees, internally displaced and stateless people and their local host communities must be included on an equal footing with citizens in all national responses to the pandemic, including public health access, vaccines, and social safety nets. (PANA/NAN)
Source: NAN News