Refugees pushed to back of the line amid vaccine shortages

Millions of refugees living in crowded camps are waiting for their COVID-19 vaccines

NEW DELHI -- Salimullah, a Rohingya refugee, has been living in the Indian capital of New Delhi since 2013 when he fled violence in Myanmar. Stateless, and now homeless after a fire razed his camp, the 35-year-old lives in a tent with as many as 10 other people at a time. Before the pandemic, he ran a small business selling groceries from a shack. But that was closed during India's harsh, months-long lockdown, and his savings are gone. He and his family have been surviving on donated food, but he has to return to work soon, despite the risk of getting COVID-19 and infecting others. Although some refugees in India have begun getting vaccines, no one in his camp has received shots. Just over 7% of India's population is fully vaccinated and vaccine shortages have plagued the nation of almost 1.4 billion. “The disease doesn’t discriminate. If we get infected, locals will also,” Salimullah said.