Bangladesh began vaccinating thousands of Rohingya Muslims on Tuesday in the world’s largest refugee settlement, amid a surge in COVID-19 infections in the country, officials said.
Aid workers have long warned of a potential humanitarian disaster if there is a significant outbreak in the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, the border district where over a million Rohingya who fled a brutal military crackdowns in neighbouring Myanmar have found sanctuary, reports Reuters.
Around 48,000 Rohingya, aged 55 and above, will be inoculated between Tuesday and Thursday with the help of the UN agencies, said Mahbubur Rahman, the chief health official in Cox’s Bazar district, said.
“This is just the beginning. All adult Rohingya people will be vaccinated in phases,” Rahman told Reuters by telephone from one of vaccine centres in the camps.
There has been a recent uptick in infections in the camps, with around 20,000 cases and 200 deaths recorded among refugees since the pandemic erupted last year.
