Don’t forget refugees in Covid-19 fight

This time last year, everyone’s prayer was that a Covid-19 vaccine would be developed soon to overcome the raging pandemic.
Those prayers were answered and at the turn of the year, rapid strides in technology and the willingness of world leaders made possible a medical miracle and a vaccine was manufactured and distributed. This was considered a ray of hope towards defeating the pandemic. However, six months later, only 0.1 per cent of all available vaccine doses have been administered in the lowest income countries that host the largest numbers of displaced people. This is in sharp contrast to the 84 per cent administered in high-income countries. 
According to research carried out by the World Vision in eight low-income countries, including Uganda, only one refugee out of 1,914 surveyed had received a Covid-19 vaccine. 

 More than half of the world’s refugees are children. Many have been separated from family and are at risk of violations including child trafficking, forced labour, and forced marriage. We must act now and commit to protect them, and the equitable distribution of vaccines is one way to protect these vulnerable children. We are, therefore, calling upon the government of Uganda to, whenever possible, explicitly include all refugees, including children, in Covid-19 vaccination plans and rollouts.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) proposed a temporary waiver of intellectual property rights for Covid-19 vaccines, treatments, and tests until the world has reached critically needed herd immunity and this pandemic is put under control. Despite more than 190 countries agreeing to this, by committing to the Covax initiative, to deliver two billion vaccine doses for at least 20 per cent of the most vulnerable and high-risk groups by the end of 2021, deliveries are both underfunded and delayed. More than 72 per cent of all vaccine doses have been purchased by high and upper middle-income countries, with just 3 per cent of doses going to the poorest nations—the same nations that host as many as 86 per cent of the world’s refugees.

Uganda, generous with its widely acclaimed open-door policy towards refugees, is among the nations struggling to climb the vaccination ladder and whose health systems are now overwhelmed. 
High-income countries must step up funding efforts, meet their commitments, and support the delivery of vaccines to forcibly displaced populations, in line with the February 2021 UNHCR and Gavi agreement to ensure refugees can access vaccines on par with host country nationals. We call upon donor governments, the EU and G7 Leaders to respond by meeting their commitments to close the vaccine and health services gap. This will help bring the pandemic under control for the most marginalized people, particularly for the forcibly displaced.

Mary Njeri,  Refugee Response Director,  World Vision Uganda.