Bangladeshi Authorities Start COVID-19 Vaccination For Tens Of Thousands Of Rohingya Muslim Refugees In Cox's Bazar

JAKARTA - Bangladeshi authorities began vaccinating thousands of Rohingya Muslim refugees on Tuesday in the world's largest refugee settlement amid a spike in COVID-19 infections in the country, officials said.

Aid workers have long warned of a potential humanitarian disaster if there is a significant outbreak in the refugee camps in Cox's Bazar, the border district where more than a million Rohingya have fled the atrocities of the Myanmar military regime.

Some 48,000 Rohingya aged 55 and over, will be injected between Tuesday and Thursday with the help of UN agencies, said Mahbubur Rahman, the chief health officer in Cox's Bazar district.

"This is just the beginning. All Rohingya adults will be vaccinated gradually", Rahman told Reuters by telephone from one of the camp's COVID-19 vaccine centers, as quoted Tuesday, August 10.

Cases of COVID-19 infection are said to have increased in refugee camps, with around 20,000 cases and 200 deaths recorded among refugees since the COVID-19 pandemic last year.

In contrast, officials in Myanmar's Rakhine state told the media there are currently no plans to vaccinate the Rohingya living there.

Bangladesh has been battling an alarming spike in infections and deaths in recent weeks, recording more than 1.36 million people infected and 22,897 deaths.

"We feel very good. We just hope that everyone will get the vaccine. We are only safe when we are all safe", said Sakhina Khatun, 55, after she and her 65-year-old husband were vaccinated.

"People in these camps live in the shadow of a global vaccine gap. Widespread vaccination is essential to containing this deadly virus", said Hrusikesh Harichandan, head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies for the Cox's Bazar refugee camp.

"We need a concerted effort by national agencies and international organizations to help vaccinate all adults in the camps".

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