Was vaccination made available for stateless Palestinians in Lebanon?
UNRWA stated in its 2021 Annual Operational Report that:
“During the second half of 2021, COVID-19 infection rates continued to decline; however, cases started to increase again at the beginning of December. To mitigate the spread of the virus, the government introduced new preventive measures and imposed country-wide movement restrictions in the evenings for anyone who had not been vaccinated. To increase coverage, the MoPH secured vaccines for a nationwide “vaccination marathon” over several weekends, targeting all eligible persons aged 12 and over. By the end of the year, 38.9 percent of Lebanon’s
42 Publication date is outside of this reports reference period, however this excerpt was as it contained relevant information on curfew.
residents had received two doses of the vaccine. Only 118,684 vaccines were administered to Palestine refugees with only 25.2 percent receiving one dose, 19 percent receiving a second dose, and 1.6 percent receiving a booster shot by 31 December.”
(Source: UNRWA, “Annual Operational Report 2021” 27 October 2022, p. 117)
In their “Syria, Lebanon and Jordan Emergency Appeal 2022, UNRWA wrote:
“The impact of COVID-19 has been keenly felt among Palestine refugees. By 31 October, 15,443 Palestine refugees had been infected with the virus, with 1,819 requiring hospitalization and 443 losing their lives. Amongst UNRWA staff, there have been 888 positive cases and five deaths. Vaccine hesitancy is high among Palestine refugees, with 45,831 having received one dose and 35,309 two doses of the vaccine, either at a Lebanese hospital or UNRWA facility.”
(Source: UNRWA, “Syria, Lebanon and Jordan Emergency Appeal 2022”, 18 January 2022, p. 16)
The UNHCR reported in June 2021 about the Lebanese national vaccination strategy: “Good practices
A number of national vaccination strategies do not differentiate between residents based on legal status or nationality:
[…] In Lebanon, stateless persons are included in national vaccination plans and can register for vaccines. Following advocacy efforts, a stateless-ness option was added to the required nationality field in the online registration platform, enabling stateless persons to register.”
(Source : UNHCR, “The impact of covid-19 on stateless populations”, June 2021, p. 5)
Human Rights Watch denounced Lebanon’s vaccination campaign in an article published in April 2021:
“The Lebanese government’s Covid-19 vaccination program risks leaving behind marginalized communities, including refugees and migrant workers, Human Rights Watch said today. Despite the government’s promises of an equitable program, the effort has been tainted by political interference and a lack of information.
United Nations data shows that Syrian and Palestinian refugees have died from Covid-19 at a rate more than four and three times the national average, respectively. Yet, according to the government’s online Covid-19 vaccine registration and tracking platform, only 2.86 percent of those vaccinated and 5.36 percent of those registered to receive vaccinations are non-Lebanese, even though they constitute at least 30 percent of the population.
[…] Although the 200,000 Palestinian refugees do not face the same fears over arrest and deportation, many have very little trust in the Lebanese government, which has systematically discriminated against them and barred them from getting government social services, including health care.
Mistrust of the Lebanese government runs so deep that Palestinian refugees told Human Rights Watch they fear that even if they were to register, they would not actually receive the vaccine and would have to pay a fee they could not afford.
[…] Lack of Information Among Refugees, Migrants
[…] The Palestinian refugees that Human Rights Watch spoke with also lacked awareness about the government’s vaccination plan and their eligibility and expressed fear that they would be discriminated against in the rollout, given the Lebanese government’s history of discriminating against them in access to virtually all social services.”
(Source: Human Rights Watch, “Lebanon: Refugees, Migrants Left Behind in Vaccine Rollout Ensure Greater Information Access”, 6 April 2021)
The news and information services company Thomson Reuters wrote in March 2021 that:
“Lebanon has also committed to providing COVID-19 vaccines to about 1.2 million Syrian and Palestinian refugees living within its borders in a process being overseen by U.N. agencies. So far, only a small number of them have been vaccinated.
The vaccine roll-out has been overshadowed by favouritism towards the well-connected, inspiring little confidence that marginalized groups will end up getting the jab, said Farah Baba of local human rights NGO the Anti-Racism Movement.”
(Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation News “No papers, no jab: Lebanon’s migrants face barriers to COVID-19 vaccination”, 1 March 2021)