As countries around the world are rolling out the first COVID-19 vaccines, several international and regional bodies have recommended the inclusion of migrants (including those who are undocumented) in national vaccine deployment programmes. The International Organisation on Migration (IOM) issued a statement highlighting that COVID-19 vaccination plans must include migrants if they are to be effective and calling on governments to include all migrants present in their territories (regardless of migration status) in their vaccine deployment plans. IOM is also partnering with the Gavi Vaccine Alliance to improve immunization coverage for migrants, in humanitarian and emergency settings as well as in support of routine immunization through primary health care systems. Between October and December 2020, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) issued two reports which consider migrants in relation to the COVID-19 vaccination campaigns. The first classifies “migrants and refugees” as potential target groups for the vaccination campaigns; the second advises that consideration should be given to settings with “little ability to physical distance” including migrant centres, crowded housing and homeless shelters. The European Commission issued a Communication (October 2020) on vaccine preparedness, which - in quite vaguer terms - includes “communities unable to physically distance” (such as “refugee camps”) and “vulnerable socioeconomic groups and other groups at higher risk” (such as “socially deprived communities to be defined according to national circumstances”) as “possible priority groups” for vaccines deployment. |