AMMAN — As demand for the COVID-19 vaccine rises, the UN
Refugee Agency (UNHCR), in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and the
International Rescue Committee, has launched a second vaccination center in
Zaatari camp.
اضافة اعلان
The second center, which opened last week, is a “stand-by”
center that can be put to service at any time when demand for the vaccine
exceeds the capacity of the first center.
Almost 3,500 refugees in the camp have received at least one
dose of the vaccine, according to a UNHCR representative; approximately 650
refugees have received both doses. A total of almost 12,000 refugees have
registered on the Ministry of Health platform, vaccine.jo, to receive the
vaccine.
“At the beginning, the refugees were hesitant to register
and take the vaccine,” said the UNHCR representative. But the agency conducted
awareness-raising and educational sessions to teach residents about the
benefits of the vaccine, and now a “good percentage” have registered.
“I took the vaccine a month ago and so did my father,” said
21-year-old Yousef Harriri, who lives in Zaatari. “I was so happy when I got
the message; I even shared it on my social media to encourage people to
register and take the vaccine. We must encourage people to take the jab, it is
our only way out of this.”
Harriri confirmed that the second facility was opened due to
the increasing demand for the vaccine in the camp, where other people often ask
him to send the link to register for the shot. He added that he waited two months
to receive the vaccine, and the process was “easy.”
The camp, which is the largest camp for Syrian refugees in
the world, has not been immune to the pandemic. According to UNHCR, to date,
almost 2,000 cases of
COVID-19 have been recorded in Zaatari and there are
currently almost 95 active cases in the camp. Active cases are isolated within
a designated area in the camp. The first case of the virus in the camp was
reported in September 2020.
“The turnout is excellent,” said Iyad Shtayiat from UNHCR’s
Public Health Unit in a promotional video for the new center. “We hope that in
the upcoming period, we will be able as much as possible to vaccinate the
largest number of refugees, to protect ourselves and the community from the
scourge of this virus.”
“Today we cooperated with
UNHCR to open the vaccination
center for Syrian refugees inside the Zaatari camp. With this step, we have
given all refugees the chance to receive the vaccine and get over this
pandemic,” said Kholoud Alqamsa, a member of Zaatari’s health staff, in the
same video.
The announcement comes as cases in the Kingdom are currently
dropping after weeks of high positivity rates, hospitalizations, and deaths. On
Saturday, the country recorded only 1,259 new cases of the virus.
Jordan has been lauded for being among the first countries
to actively begin vaccinating refugees. On January 14, UNHCR reported the first
UNHCR-registered refugee had been vaccinated, an Iraqi refugee who received his
jab in Irbid.
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