UNHCR claims more than 7,400 refugees inoculated with COVID-19 vaccine in Ethiopia

Despite a national state of emergency declared by the Ethiopian government, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has dedicated its members to administering the Coronavirus jabs to the refugees staying in the war-torn country, reported news agency Xinhua. The UN agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people has administered over seven thousand people with the COVID-19 jabs. Further, the UN agency said it has administered a total of 4,481 refugees with both doses of the coronavirus vaccine.

Those who were given both the shots were prioritised by the Ethiopian government, said the statement released by the UNHCR. As per the figures of UNHCR, Ethiopia is the third-largest refugee-hosting country in Africa. It has 8,06,374 registered refugees and asylum-seekers as of the end of October 2021. The data shows people from South Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea, and Sudan are the most asylum seeker in the country. It is worth mentioning that the data released on November 17, Wednesday, is the latest one published by the UN agency since it started administrating the vaccine jab in April this year.

UNHCR, EPHI and WHO working collaboratively to administer the vaccine

Earlier in April, Ethiopia's national Agency for Refugees and Returnee Affairs (ARRA) had in April this year disclosed the commencement of giving COVID-19 jabs to refugees. Currently, the UNHCR, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Ethiopia Public Health Institute (EPHI) are collectively working on the vaccine administration. According to the figures from the Ethiopian Ministry of Health, Ethiopia has so far administered 5,084,917 COVID-19 vaccine doses. It has administered a maximum of China's Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccines donated by the Chinese government in March.

Authorities detain people on the basis of ethnicity: Report

Currently, the country has been facing economic as well as humanitarian crises. Citing Ethiopia's state-appointed human rights commission (EHRC), CNN said that the administration has been arresting the common people of Ethiopia 'based on ethnicity'. The commission noted that the state of emergency gave 'special privileges' to the administration to arrest people on the basis of mere suspicion. The human rights commission said that the authorities are detaining people by saying "they are involved with the terror outfits". It is worth mentioning the state of emergency will last for the next six months. The government can impose a curfew, order citizens into military training, disrupt transport services and travel, suspend licenses of media outlets and detain indefinitely anyone suspected of having links with a terrorist group.

Image: Twitter/UNHCR