Refugees, Displaced Persons, and Migrants Must Have Access to COVID-19 Vaccines
Organizations and individuals from across the American continent are demanding that states in the region ensure that pandemic policies leave no one behind.
In the context of the current health emergency, and in view of the imminent creation and implementation of vaccination plans throughout the Americas against the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus (COVID-19), civil society organizations, academic institutions, specialists, human-rights defenders, and Indigenous peoples are demanding that the authorities of all states on the American continent guarantee migrants, asylum seekers, refugees, and stateless persons access to all health and vaccination services without any discrimination and under conditions equal to the rest of the population under each state's jurisdiction.
We share the letter signed by more than 400 civil society organizations, academics, and activists demanding that public-health measures to counter the COVID-19 pandemic be implemented without discrimination based on nationality or migration status. This comes in response to the proliferation of statements by government authorities in the region suggesting that there could be bias based on national origin and migration status in the collective vaccination processes due to begin across the continent starting in March. OBMICA subscribes to this call to attention on the premise that the right to health must be guaranteed to migrants, asylum seekers, refugees, and stateless persons in accordance with the principle of equality and non-discrimination; vaccination policies must be universal.
Below you may access the document, dated January 18, online or download it in PDF format for reading: