{"id":13342,"date":"2021-05-06T11:30:00","date_gmt":"2021-05-06T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/?p=13342"},"modified":"2022-01-13T15:14:35","modified_gmt":"2022-01-13T09:44:35","slug":"providing-the-covid-19-vaccine-to-refugees-and-asylum-seekers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/idronline.org\/kn-in\/providing-the-covid-19-vaccine-to-refugees-and-asylum-seekers\/","title":{"rendered":"Providing the COVID-19 vaccine to refugees and asylum seekers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Riyaz*, a Rohingya refugee who lives in a crowded camp in Delhi along with nearly 300 others, is desperate to get himself vaccinated against COVID-19. But India’s ongoing<\/a> vaccination drive is only open to its own citizens<\/a> or those with any of the 11 identity documents<\/a> specified by the government.<\/p>

All that Riyaz and the others in the camp have are the refugee cards issued by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees<\/a> (UNHCR). “A few of us tried to get vaccinated but we were asked for Aadhaar cards,” he told IndiaSpend. The lack of an Aadhaar<\/a> card also means that refugees cannot get themselves tested for COVID-19.<\/p>

Most people were able to earn Rs 500-700 a day earlier to support their family, but now they are not able to find any work. “We need free vaccination because we cannot afford to pay,” he said.<\/p>

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Durgaram Sharma, 36, is a Nepalese security guard in an east Bengaluru apartment complex who has been living and working in India for 17 years. He has an Aadhaar card and can seek a vaccine in India but not his wife, Bindu, who has none of the requisite identity papers.<\/p>

India’s newly liberalised<\/a> vaccine policy makes all its adult citizens<\/a> eligible, but makes no mention of the undocumented immigrants and refugees who live and work here: India currently has more than 240,000 refugees and asylum seekers<\/a> and nearly 3.8 million Nepali<\/a> and Bangladeshi<\/a> immigrants.<\/p>

In 2019, 95.3% of India’s immigrants originated in the same Sustainable Development Goal region (as per the United Nations’ classification for its SDG Goals<\/a> programme—Central and Southern Asia, the latter comprising neighbouring countries such as Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and Afghanistan). This number has not changed significantly from 1990 (96.8%), IndiaSpend <\/strong>reported<\/a> in January 2021.<\/p>

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“The government must provide universal vaccination to anyone in India. Anyone can transmit the disease; vaccination cannot be restricted to citizens.” | Picture courtesy: ©Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation\/Saumya Khandelwal<\/figcaption><\/figure>

At a time when Indian citizens are facing difficulties due to vaccine shortages<\/a>, the high cost of getting vaccinated in a private facility and glitches in the online registration and scheduling system, the lack of clarity in the official policy could leave millions of non-citizens out of India’s vaccination drive, humanitarian groups warn. This could also endanger the health and lives of India’s citizens and hamper its efforts to curb the pandemic, they add.<\/p>

“The right to health is part of the right to life. If there are requirements for specific documentation, a large number of people will fall out of the vaccination process and face death,” said Ravi Nair, executive director, South Asia Human Rights Documentation Centre<\/a> (SAHRDC), a human rights network.<\/p>

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‘Accept refugee documents for vaccines’<\/strong><\/h3>

Salai Cung Dawt, a Chin refugee from Myanmar and a community leader and coordinator for the Chin Human Rights Organisation, is worried for his people in India. There are nearly 3,000 Chins in Delhi and most work in the informal sector earning between Rs 10,000 and Rs 15,000 monthly. Those who tried to register online are unable to because they do not have government identity cards, he said.<\/p>