TEHRAN – The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Filippo Grandi, thanked Health Minister Bahram Einollahi for including Afghan refugees in Iran’s COVID-19 vaccination campaign.

Grandi arrived in Tehran on December 17 on a 3-day mission to meet with government counterparts to advocate for access to safety for newly arriving asylum-seekers from Afghanistan, as well as to discuss additional support needed to help Iran maintain its generous refugee-inclusive services.

Iran is a major refugee-hosting country. Its policies and services are inclusive. UNHCR will continue to help mobilize vaccines and other resources against the pandemic, he stated.

Facing new arrivals from Afghanistan, Iran needs more support for all the Afghans it hosts, including long-term refugees, he added.

Einollahi also for his part said that we do not make any difference in terms of providing services to refugees and Iranian nationals.

“We have always tried to provide free health services to the refugees; For example, all infected ones were admitted to medical centers and received treatment free of charge,” he added.

Before receiving any help from international organizations, we used our vaccine resources to inoculate all Afghan citizens for free, he also noted.

During this epidemic, the developed countries must help the countries in need, which unfortunately did not do so, he lamented, adding, only 6.5 percent of people in Africa have been vaccinated, where Omicron emerged and has affected affluent countries, indicating that we must act globally to control the pandemic.

Iran has been one of the countries most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic with more than 6 million reported cases of infection and 130,000 deaths till December 2021. The country hosts about 3.6 million displaced Afghan migrants.

In the last months, Iran has managed to step up its vaccination campaign with around 53 percent of the eligible population now fully vaccinated. In order to maximize the safety of the whole community, it is crucial that migrants present in Iran – regardless of their legal immigration status – are also included in the national COVID-19 vaccination plan.

World Health Organization (WHO) representative to Iran Jaffar Hussain has said it is a great achievement for Iran that the government is vaccinating every Afghan refugee going to the vaccination center even before receiving COVID vaccines from Humanitarian Buffer (COVAX).

Iran is one of the leading countries in West Asia for public vaccination coverage, as the country has registered a record 1.5 million doses of vaccines injected in one day, he concluded.

It has always been a major supporter of refugees and displaced persons, and the provision of services to asylum seekers for four consecutive decades is a testament to this.

Without any discrimination, Iran has provided various services to a large number of refugees and foreign immigrants in the fields of education, health, treatment, livelihood, vocational training, and employment, with minimal assistance from the international community.

FB/MG