Dhaka: More than 4,000 Rohingyas living in Cox’s Bazar refugee camps in Bangladesh have received their first covid-19 vaccine shots, as part of a national inoculation drive to curb the spread of the deadly coronavirus, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Wednesday.
The agency welcomed the start of the vaccination drive, in line with national authorities’ broader public health efforts, which began on Tuesday.
"The Rohingya refugee and host community volunteers have an essential frontline role in containing the spread of covid-19 in the camps. The first step in fully protecting communities; however, is through the rollout of vaccination. We are grateful to the Government of Bangladesh for having included Rohingya refugees in the vaccination campaign," said Johannes Van Der Klaauw, UNHCR’s Representative in Bangladesh, in a press release on Tuesday.
UNHCR stressed that when allocating the vaccines, the equitable inclusion of Rohingya refugees is critical to curbing the spread of the deadly disease.
The drive is being led by the Bangladesh authorities with technical support from UNHCR, the World Health Organization (WHO) and other humanitarian partners.
The complex Rohingya refugee crisis erupted in August 2017, following attacks on remote police outposts in western Myanmar by armed groups alleged to be from within the community.
These were followed by systematic counter attacks against the minority, mainly Muslim Rohingya, which human rights groups, including senior UN officials, have said amounted to ethnic cleansing.
Cek Berita dan Artikel yang lain di Google News
FOLLOW US
Ikuti media sosial medcom.id dan dapatkan berbagai keuntungan
