Online Forum on COVID Vaccines & Inclusion of Migrants
On March 5, 2021, the Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants (APMM), together with the International Migrants Alliance (IMA), organized an online forum entitled: “COVID vaccination plans: Are migrants in or out?” The forum discussed current government vaccination plans for migrant workers in several countries in Asia-Pacific, including Australia, Hong Kong, New Zealand and Taiwan, just to mention a few, and urged all participants to advocate their government for a more proactive and responsible action towards the vaccination issue on migrant workers. The webinar attracted a total number of 65 participants on Facebook and Zoom from different parts of the world.
Since the eruption of the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries locked their borders, and millions of migrant workers who should have returned to their own countries have been stranded overseas. Moreover, they faced increasing discrimination and harassment since some local residents thought they brought virus to their country. Recently, many countries started vaccination services for their population, some included migrant workers, while others do not, or haven’t announced any vaccination policy with regard to foreign workers.
At the beginning of the meeting, Julie Steendam, the European coordinator of the European Citizens’ Initiative Right to Cure, shared her network’s view on global distribution of the COVID vaccine. She stressed the importance of global collaboration and global solidarity during this harsh time. All humans should put aside prejudice and discrimination and help those in need. She said that after a few months since the vaccination started in most European countries, something is ‘going radically wrong’. Wealthy countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union buy and stock vaccines more than they require, while developing countries have limited access to vaccines, which they do not produce by themselves. By now there are only a handful of pharmaceutical companies producing COVID vaccines worldwide, and due to intellectual properties rights they can literally decide who can produce their vaccines and how much is the price. This situation has created a monopoly market environment and companies would only sell to those willing to pay the highest price. This may further hinder the access to vaccines for migrant workers. The European commission has pledged to make vaccine a ‘public common good’, but it seems nearly impossible in light of the current situation.
Sringatin from the Asian Migrants’ Coordinating Body (HK) shared current vaccination plan of Hong Kong government. The vaccination in HK started in late February this year. Currently, 2.4 million of high risks groups, such as medical workers, those aged 60 or above and caretakers at elderly homes, will get vaccinated first. All of the HK residents are included in the vaccination program and will get free vaccination eventually. So far, however, the government has not mentioned or proposed any scheme for migrant workers. Also, most of the information about local pandemic situation and vaccination plans is only available in Chinese and English, which may cause inconvenience and misunderstanding for many migrant workers.
The situation in Taiwan is similar to that of HK, according to Lennon Wong from Serve the People Association in Taiwan. There are ten prioritized groups which can get vaccination in the first round. Likewise there is no specific vaccination for migrant workers currently. However a worth mentioned point is that staffs in the nursing home is one of the 10 prioritized groups, which means that about 20,000 migrant workers may benefit. Nevertheless, they only account for a very small proportion of the more than 700,000 migrant workers on the island.
The condition in New Zealand is fairly optimistic. Mandeep Singh Bela from Union Network of Migrants (UNEMIG) said the government has ordered more vaccines than its population requires that they can even support neighboring Pacific countries. Basically all human beings located in the New Zealand territory can receive vaccination free of charge, regardless of nationality or occupation. He also mentioned that they are now calling on New Zealand government to support India and South Africa’s proposal for a temporary relaxation of intellectual property rules from certain provisions of the WTO Agreement on Trade Related Aspect of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) for the prevention, containment and treatment of COVID-19.
While in Australia there is no government announcement of vaccination policy yet on migrant workers, and there is free testing for all people, May Kotsakis indicated. Maria, a Pakistani living in Australia and a member of Immigrant Women’s Speakout Association in Australia, shared her view on Australia policies as well. She said that the government has provided COVID information in 32 languages through radio and social media, and has announced that all types of visa holders are covered in the vaccination plan although there was no mention on undocumented migrants.
In Malaysia, the government is going to incorporate non-citizens into vaccination plan, which includes undocumented migrants, according to Fajar Santoadi of Tenaganita. Meanwhile in Thailand, Teresa Sarmiento of Association of Concerned Filipinos (ACTION-Thailand) said, the government plans to vaccinate 10 million people per month from June to December, and vaccines will be available for all people in the nation.
So, how can we make more people accessible to vaccines, especially those in (and from) developing countries? Mandeep suggested that people can launch online petition and online seminar to “create awareness of this monopoly (problem)” among migrants and the community, the civil society and governments.
In the ending of the forum, the host Rey Asis asserted that migrant workers and refugees should be placed in prioritized groups of vaccination plan in every country since they usually have higher risks of infection. He called on governments to work with migrant organizations, refugee groups and NGOs to facilitate access to vaccination and other essential health services.
The forum closes with a simple but strong slogan shouted out energetically by every participant: People’s vaccine! Vaccine for all!
