Will Undocumented Afghan Refugees Get Covid-19 Jabs?
Pakistan has the world’s second-largest refugee population after Turkey and only around half of 3 million Afghan refugees are registered
In Pakistan, currently, only nationals with computerized national identification cards (CNIC) are receiving the covid-19 vaccine while unregistered Afghan refugees are roaming around as they are not eligible for it.
Amid the pandemic situation, none of the Afghan refugees has yet received the vaccine.
As per an estimate, nearly 3 million Afghan externally displaced persons (EDPs) are currently residing in Pakistan and around 43 camps have been established for them in different areas.
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Thousands of EDPs do not have their national identity documents and are likely to miss out on the vaccination.
Pakistan has the world’s second-largest refugee population after Turkey and only around half of 3 million Afghan refugees are registered while others spend their lives undocumented.
As per set procedure, the citizens have to register themselves for the vaccination with their CNIC numbers and the same protocol is set for the refugees as well
The government and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) are mulling to devise a plan for inoculation of over half million refugees in Pakistan including those from Bangladesh, Nepal, and Rohingya.
News360 contacted Dr Tehsin Fatima, Head of Project in Commissionerate for Afghan Refugees, who told that several reasons keep Afghan refugees at bay from jabs.
“Apart from identification documents, the negative propaganda and myths related to the drug are also one of the main reasons”, the official said.
As per details shared by Dr Tehsin, nearly 600 Afghan EDPs have applied for vaccine registration but are still waiting for their codes, mandatory for the process.
“The Afghan commissioner and UNHCR officials attended several meetings with the government but no plan has been finalized so far”, she added.
On the other hand, the vaccination process in the country has slowed down during the past couple of weeks while so far, nearly 6.1 million doses have been administered in the drive.
