SITTWE (UCAN): The military junta in Myanmar backtracked on its plans to withhold Covid-19 vaccinations from the Rohingya minority in Rakhine state [Sunday Examiner, August 22]. The move came days after rights groups decried reported plans by local administrators to withhold vaccinations.
Covid-19 cases have been reported in camps for the internally displaced where more than 120,000 Rohingya have been confined since 2012. Freedom of movement is restricted while access to health care, as well as education and employment, is limited.
An estimated 500,000 Rohingya live elsewhere in Rakhine where they also face oppression and discrimination.
Thein Maung, one of the leaders in Dar Paing camp near Sittwe, the state capital, said people from two nearby camps have received Covid-19 vaccinations and their turn will come next.
He said they have already collected the data from the camps for Covid-19 jabs.
“Not many Covid cases have been reported in the camps and we urge people to practice [anti-pandemic] measures such as wearing face masks and washing hands,” Thein Maung said.
Daw Cho from Taung Paw camp in Myebon town, said many people had the symptoms of Covid-19 such as loss of smell, headaches and fever in July. Eight people from the camp who are over 65 have already been inoculated.
Covid-19 cases have been reported in camps for the internally displaced
“We are still waiting for the turn of other people as we have collected data for vaccination,” he said.
The junta’s spokesperson, Zaw Min Tun, said in a news conference on August 27 that vaccinations would be offered to Rohingya in Rakhine.
“We will not leave anyone behind. They are also our people,” he said, though he used the term “Bengalis” to refer to the Rohingya, implying that the ethnic Muslims are illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh even though their presence dates back hundreds of years.
The junta has been trying to carry out vaccinations following soaring cases in the third wave of Covid-19, which is worsening due to the virtual collapse of the country’s health system.
On August 30, health authorities reported 3,166 new cases and 106 deaths, bringing total infections to 392,900 and deaths to 15,183.
More than 700,000 Rohingya were forced to flee to Bangladesh following the military’s crackdown in August 2017 after decades of systematic discrimination, statelessness and targeted violence.
