Bangladesh initiated vaccination program in world’s biggest refugee settlement on Tuesday.
Aid workers had anticipated a potential disastrous outbreak in the Rohingya camps in Cox’s bazaar, where millions of Rohingya Muslim took refuge after escaping a brutal military crackdown in Myanmar.
Around 48,000 Rohingya, aged 55 and above, will be vaccinated between Tuesday and Thursday with the help of the UN agencies, said Mahbubur Rahman, the chief health official in Cox’s Bazar district.
“This is just the beginning. All adult Rohingya people will be vaccinated in phases,” Rahman told Reuters.
There has been a recent increase in infections rates in the camps, with around 20,000 cases and 200 deaths recorded among refugees since the pandemic started last year.
“People in these camps are living in the shadow of the global vaccine divide.We need united efforts by national agencies and international organisations to help vaccinate all adults in the camps,” said Hrusikesh Harichandan, Head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies’ Cox’s Bazar.
