The government of South Sudan has been applauded by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugee (UNHCR) for considering refugees in its COVID-19 vaccine roll-out plans.
The UN refugees’ agency said the move will ensure the safety of refugees, the host communities and the wider society in South Sudan.
“Today, I wish to commend South Sudan for the continued generosity to include refugees as well as internally displaced people in the national preparedness and response plans since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Safe guarding refugee health also protects the health and their host communities and wiser society, and UNHCR is working with the Ministry of Health, the World Health Organisation, UNICEF and partners to support the roll-out in all refugee hosting locations,” said UNHCR Representative, Arafat Jamal.
On Friday, 10 refugees from Gorom refugee settlement located about 20 KM west of capital, Juba, voluntarily received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccines at Buluk Police Hospital.
Three host community’s members and a health worker also voluntary received their jabs the same day,
South Sudan has now become the fourth country in East African region to ensure safety of asylums following Ethiopia, Uganda and Rwanda which have already vaccinating refuges as well as Sudan.
Last week, the Ministry of Health there was low turnout for COVID-19 vaccination resulting to over 126 000 doses of Astra Zeneca vaccine stuck in the store.
However, over the past weeks, the country has recorded zero new cases and death with 10, 652 accumulative cases, 10, 462 and 115 death as of last week.