UNHCR welcomes move to ensure refugees and asylum seekers are vaccinated
EDITOR'S NOTE: This article was amended following a clarification by the UNHCR of quotes it had given another publication.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is ready to play its role in ensuring that all refugees and asylum seekers are vaccinated against Covid-19.
“The UNHCR is ready to assist in mobilising and reaching out to the refugee and asylum-seeking communities and has already translated vaccine information posters and audio files into 11 languages commonly spoken by refugees.
EDITOR'S NOTE: This article was amended following a clarification by the UNHCR of quotes it had given another publication.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is ready to play its role in ensuring that all refugees and asylum seekers are vaccinated against Covid-19.
“The UNHCR is ready to assist in mobilising and reaching out to the refugee and asylum-seeking communities and has already translated vaccine information posters and audio files into 11 languages commonly spoken by refugees.
The UNHCR has also been sharing data with various ministries, including the Foreign and Health Ministries, various state Health Departments and the Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre with a view to boosting immunisation, it said in a statement today.
It also called on refugees to register using the MySejahtera app so that they can be contacted for immunisation.
Three days ago Home Minister Hamzah announced that there are 178,715 UNHCR cardholders in the country, but said there is no further information on where they are located.
“If UNHCR can provide us with detailed information, it will facilitate the government’s effort to achieve herd immunity to contain the spread of Covid-19 in the country,” he said.
2.5 million foreigners residing in Malaysia
He added that the ministry had identified almost 2.5 million foreigners in the country who held various documents issued by the government or third parties such as UNHCR, including prisoners and immigration detainees, for Covid-19 vaccination.
Hamzah had come under fire for initially taking a hardline stance by saying that law enforcers, including the Immigration Department, were prepared to make more arrests and that steps were being taken to boost the capacities at prisons and immigration detention centres.
However, after coming under fire, he clarified that he would work together with National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme Coordinating Minister Khairy Jamaluddin to ensure that the foreigners receive their vaccination.
“I wish to explain that Malaysians must understand that, for the country to reach herd immunity, every foreigner in Malaysia must be vaccinated,” he explained.
For foreigners who do not have valid documents and want to return to their country of origin, Hamzah said they could do so through the Return Recalibration Programme, which was introduced last year.
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