On January 29, 2021, the High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi made a special visit to Ethiopia, and the African Union Commission, where he met with the Commissioner for Health, Humanitarian Affairs and Social Development H.E. Amira Elfadil. The discussion raised concerns toward access to COVID 19 vaccine for refugees in the camps, as the majority of them are hosted in low and middle-income countries. The international community must do more to support host governments regarding access to the vaccines. The High Commissioner for Refugees stressed that the African Union Commission through Africa CDC is the gate to provide the COVID19 vaccine to the African Refugees in many African Countries that host refugees’ camps.
H.E. Elfadil addressed the concern of vaccinating refugees by assuring that the African Union Commission has put in place a strategy aimed at vaccinating 60% of the people of the continent. This will be achieved through the Continental Strategy and the work of the African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team (AVATT), who negotiated with manufactories and vaccine producers, and had discussions with airlines for delivering the vaccine. Commissioner Elfadil stressed that the AU will make sure no one is left behind when vaccine is available and will give a special
consideration to the vulnerable groups such as migrants, refugees, and IDPs. The Commissioner also highlighted the different mechanisms and negotiations that the AUC held with other partners to support the financial aspect for providing the vaccine to AU Member States.
More recently, under the Emergency Transit Mechanism (ETM) for Refugees and asylum seekers hosted by the government of Rwanda in collaboration with African Union and UNHCR, a group of 197 refugees and asylum seekers from Libya who are temporarily hosted in Rwanda received their first Covid-19 jabs on Wednesday, March 10. The ETM was set up following an agreement signed in 2019 between the Government of Rwanda, African Union and UNHCR. Under this agreement, Rwanda agreed to receive and provide protection to refugees and asylum-seekers, as well as others identified as particularly vulnerable and at-risk, who are currently being held in detention centres in Libya. They will be transferred to safety in Rwanda on a voluntary basis.
