The UN Refugee Agency recently announced a warning about the vaccine shortages, even for the asylum-seekers. This comes after the Covid 19 variant first detected in India “threatens” to spread fast in the region.
UNHCR Worried About Asia and Pacific Region Over Vaccine Shortage
Andrej Mahecic, spokesperson of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spoke about the situation in a recent press briefing in Geneva on Tuesday. Mahecic said that the fragile health systems in many countries especially in the Asia and Pacific region have struggled to cope with the recent increase in the Covid 19 cases.
He said that the Asia and Pacific region has particularly experienced the largest increase in the number of Covid 19 cases in the past two months. Over this period, the countries recorded 38 million Covid 19 cases and over half a million deaths.
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He further added that the lack of hospital beds, oxygen supplies, and the limited Intensive Care Unit capacities have worsened the situation for those who were infected with Covid 19 in India and Nepal.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has also said that only B.1.617.2 is now a “variant of concern,” observing that lower rates of transmission have been observed for the other two lineages, making them no longer variants of concern.
The B.1.617.2 is now labelled variant Delta and has been reported in 62 countries as of June 1. As the Covid 19 continues to rise in many parts of the world, the UNHCR warned shortage of vaccines in the Asia-Pacific region.
UNHCR Urged COVAX Support
In the light of vaccine shortage for the citizens and the refugees, UNHCR spokesperson urged strong support from the COVAX initiative which is a worldwide effort to provide access to vaccination for everyone.
He said that the vaccines are critical to save lives and curb the spread of the coronavirus, especially in developing countries. The UNHCR stressed that no one can be left behind in the global effort against the coronavirus.
