Description
Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic was a global crisis of historic proportions, and refugees and migrants faced barriers to accessing COVID-19 vaccines. We sought to quantify COVID-19 vaccine uptake among refugees and migrants while also enumerating barriers and facilitators to vaccination.
Methods: We conducted a mixed-methods study of the deployment and uptake of COVID-19 vaccines for refugees and migrants in five countries representing five different WHO regions: Ecuador, Nepal, Pakistan, The Philippines, and Rwanda. A qualitative phase of focus group discussions and key informant interviews occurred in early 2022, while a quantitative cross-sectional survey was conducted in mid-2022.
Results and discussion: The five-country study revealed that by mid-2022, there was high uptake of COVID-19 vaccines among refugees and migrants (76·2% among all respondents), especially relative to the vaccine uptake in the general population at the time. There was also no single, uniform approach to vaccinating refugees and migrants, reinforcing the heterogeneity of this cohort and the varied experiences of each country in confronting the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite these significant wins, both quantitative and qualitative study respondents identified several early barriers to access, many of which occurred in multiple countries. These barriers are related to the availability, accessibility, affordability, acceptability, and awareness of vaccines, the accommodation practices of vaccination facilities, and discrimination.
Conclusions: Refugees and migrants in regular and irregular situations are among the world’s most vulnerable groups. Careful consideration of their unique social, legal, and health needs must be intentional from the start of any future national or global health emergency prevention, preparedness, response, and resilience strategy for future pandemics.
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