Code 19: Can Afghan refugees living in Pakistan be vaccinated?

 "I am worried about my mother, she is about 40 years old. The rest of the people in the neighborhood are being vaccinated against corona, we don't know yet. It is unknown at this time what he will do after leaving the post.

Saleha is an Afghan student without a father. They are three sisters and have a younger brother who is about ten years old who is ill these days.

Saleha said she did not know if she should be vaccinated against coronavirus because there are so many things going on, but she wondered why we are missing out on vaccines around the world. ۔

"The virus has spread around the world," she said. Vaccines are essential to prevent this. "

Health officials in Pakistan say the vaccine is being given only to Afghan nationals who have Afghan passports and are registered with their passport numbers, after which they are being vaccinated.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Secretary Syed Imtiaz Hussain Shah told the BBC that the policy on whether or not to vaccinate Afghan refugees would come from the center and that they would implement whatever policy was formulated.

He said that at present only those Afghan refugees who have Afghan passports are being vaccinated. But there are also many Afghan refugees who do not have their own documents in Pakistan.

Afghan student Saleha's mother's name is Zainab. She said she had a refugee card but no passport and did not know if she could be vaccinated on her card.

Zainab understands Persian but had difficulty speaking and understanding Urdu. He said that just as other people have access to facilities in Pakistan, so should Afghan refugees.

Aminullah is also an Afghan refugee and lives in a refugee camp in Peshawar. He said some people in his camp had contracted corona and then went to hospital for treatment but no one had been vaccinated so far. .

"We have people who have not been infected with the virus. They think it's a lie and they don't believe the virus is there, but when they get sick of it, they get scared and run for treatment.

Aminullah is 21 years old but he is part of a large family. He said that his father is the eldest in his family and then he has fifteen brothers. They all have children. "We are five brothers. I spend time at the vegetable shop and also get an education.

Aminullah said the vaccine needed time, but he did not receive a message that he could register on his refugee card. He said that there are about ten elderly people in his family who are in dire need of this vaccine.

He says that in the same way there are people of average age ie over forty years but just like the citizens of Pakistan are being vaccinated, they are not being vaccinated.

There are currently more than 1.4 million registered Afghan refugees in Pakistan, and more than 800,000 who do not have a POR (Proof of Registration) card but do have residency documents. A large number of unregistered Afghans also live.

There are currently 53 Afghan settlements in Pakistan. In the past, they were called Afghan refugee camps, but now they are known as Afghan settlements.

Of these, 42 are in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 10 in Balochistan and one in Mianwali, Punjab. In addition, a large number of Afghans live in cities.

There are also a large number of Afghans living in Pakistan who were born here in Pakistan. He is now between 30 and 40 years old but has not been identified.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has issued a statement on the vaccination of Afghan refugees, but so far no practical steps have been taken.

When contacted, UNHCR spokesman Qaiser Afridi said that at the central level, the Pakistani government had decided that Afghan refugees would also be vaccinated.

He said the NCOC meeting in April had decided that all foreigners, including Afghan refugees who have POR cards, would be vaccinated.

He said that according to his information, some such Afghans have been registered and some of them have been given the first dose of vaccine.

He did not say whether the registered Afghan citizens had Afghan passports or POR cards.

When contacted, Afghan refugees in the camps said they did not yet know if anyone had been vaccinated.

Health officials say it has not yet been decided whether all Afghan refugees will be vaccinated. "Only those who have Afghan passports will be vaccinated. The decision to vaccinate on the card has not been made yet."

Officials at the Afghan consulate in Peshawar said officials from the Afghan Commissionerate and UNHCR were discussing the matter with the Pakistani government, but did not know.

Like Zainab, Saleha and Aminullah, Afghan refugees living in Afghan settlements and Pakistani cities can be infected and spread the virus like other Pakistanis. In such a situation, experts believe that vaccinating Afghan refugees is just as important as eradicating Code 19.