KARACHI: Afghan refugees in Pakistan’s southern provinces said on Friday they wanted monetary help, not vaccinations, from the government to protect against coronavirus as their camps had not been hit by COVID-19.
About 1.4 million Afghan refugees live in 54 camps across the country, mostly in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and southwestern Balochistan provinces, both of which border Afghanistan. Refugee settlements are also located in large urban centers like Karachi and Islamabad.
Representatives of Afghan refugees said they had no information about any immunization program, and most claimed the disease hadn’t killed anyone in their camps, which are wrought with a lack of awareness about the disease.
“No one has contacted us for vaccinations,” Zahir Pashtun, a youth activist at the New Saranan refugee camp in southwestern Balochistan province, told Arab News.
“I don’t think that even one percent (of refugees) will get the jab,” he continued. “Some are even convinced they will die if they get themselves immunized.”
Pashtun said the virus had not killed anyone in his refugee camp, but had severely damaged the financial conditions of the mostly daily wage laborers in his community, as the virus wreaked havoc on the economy since last March.
In Pashtun’s camp, a daily wager said the government should give refugees money instead of vaccinations to protect them against COVID-19.
“No one has informed us of the coronavirus (vaccinations),” Ghulam Sakhi said.
“But if they want to help us... they should give us financial help instead,”
Last month, the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC), the apex body for Pakistan’s coronavirus response, said the vaccination of foreigners living in the country had been approved, and the health ministry said the process would begin in the first week of April.
That has not yet happened.
Zabihullah Ahmadi, a teacher at Sindh’s Syed Jamaluddin Afghani refugees school, said there was “no sign or sense” of COVID-19 in his community.
“When the government wants to vaccinate them (refugees), it will have to extend awareness about coronavirus. But even then, a majority of Afghan refugees may not take it as they don’t accept it as a disease,” Ahmadi added.
Over 14,000 people have died from COVID-19 in Pakistan since March 2020. Of these, 4,500 deaths occurred in Sindh province and a little over 200 deaths in Balochistan.
Qaiser Afridi, a spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told Arab News that the UN would raise awareness, “once a system is in place to register the numbers.”He said the health ministry had constituted a technical working group for refugees to deal with the issue.
“Refugees will be included in the system meant for the Pakistani population. There is no separate system is in place for them,” he said, adding the Afghan nationals would register online like all other citizens by using their Proof of Registration cards and would then be invited to the nearest Adult Vaccination Center (AVC) at government health facilities.
“There will be no vaccination inside the refugee villages,” he said.
“We haven’t seen anyone die of COVID-19,” Mullah Abdul Rehman, an Afghan refugee in southern Sindh province, told Arab News.
The 60-something Rehman said that he always kept a mask with him but only used it after crossing the Sohrab Goth bridge toward Karachi.
“This is a mask-free land,” he said about his refugee settlement, and added: “Since we see no coronavirus patients, people think it is not as important as the polio vaccine.”
Away from the southern provinces, things in Afghan refugee camps are different, as positivity ratios have soared. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, refugees are more inclined to get themselves vaccinated.
“We have heard about the vaccine and are doing our best to create awareness about it since COVID-19 is a fatal disease,” Mohibullah Salman, a youth leader in KP’s Jalala refugee village, told Arab News.
“Youth groups are creating awareness and people are beginning to show their willingness to participate in the immunization drive,” he said. “Once the government begins the vaccination campaign, a large number of refugees will join the queue.”
