Millions of Asia Refugees Missing Out on COVID-19 Vaccines, UN Says

GENEVA - The U.N. refugee agency warns a severe shortage of COVID-19 vaccines in Asia-Pacific is putting the lives of refugees and asylum seekers at risk as this deadly disease continues to spread like wildfire throughout the region. 

These countries have pledged to include refugees and asylum seekers into their COVID-19 vaccination programs. However, there are not enough vaccines to go around, so marginalized groups are among the last to benefit from these schemes.  In the past two months, the World Health Organization has recorded some 38 million COVID-19 cases and more than half a million deaths in the Asia-Pacific region, the largest increase globally.   UNHCR reports refugees who live in overcrowded, unsanitary settings are especially vulnerable to the spread of COVID-19.  Spokesman Andrej Mahecic says there has been a huge increase in the number of cases among Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh since April.  He notes nearly 900,000 refugees are living in this densely populated camp, the largest in the world. "As of 31 May, there have been over 1,188 cases confirmed among the refugee population, with more than half of these cases recorded in May alone," said Mahecic. "We have also seen a worrying increase in the number of COVID-19 cases among refugees and asylum-seekers in Nepal, Iran, Pakistan, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.”