Afghan refugees want anti-Covid-19 vaccination

CHARSADDA: The lives of Afghan refugees residing in Charsadda district are in danger while they are also posing a potential threat to others as the Health Department has not yet started their vaccination against the Covid-19 virus.

Afghan refugees Hameedullah, Shafiq Ahmad and others, who are residing in a camp in Utmanzai in Charsadda district, have expressed concern over the non-vaccination of refugees. They said they were worried about their own lives while they could also become a potential cause to the fast-spreading viral infection to others if they were not vaccinated in time.

They said that around 800 families comprising over 6,000 individuals were residing in Afghan Refugee Camp in Utmanzai but they felt insecure as their vaccination against Covid-19 disease had not started yet. It may be mentioned that there are total of three Afghan refugee camps in the Charsadda district.

The Afghan refugees said that dozens of their fellows in the camp had reported positive for the viral infection during the last one year and it would be dangerous for them as well as others if they were ignored in the ongoing vaccination drive against the coronavirus.

They appealed the Health Department to start the vaccination of Afghan refugees to save their own lives and that of others in the district. When contacted In-charge of vaccination centres, confirmed that the Afghan refugees were approaching them for vaccination.

However, they said that they could not vaccinate them as the online system for registration for the inoculation on computerised national identity cards was designed only for Pakistanis.According to UNHCR, there are 0.4 million registered and 0.8 million unregistered Afghan refugees residing in 53 camps situated in various parts of the country.