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President Iván Duque warned this Monday morning that the priority of vaccination in the country will be Colombian citizens.
“The prioritization will always be Colombian citizens. That will be our priority because it is marked that way. We have cases of citizens with dual nationality. Those cases will be handled, not based on nationality. If they are people who are regularized, they have the conditions and, additionally, they are within the conditions of pathologies, of risk condition, defined by the Ministry of Health, that gives guiding criteria for the application of the same, “he said.
(We suggest you read: When can you get vaccinated? Know the phases and who will have priority)
The explanation of the Head of State was given in an interview on Blu Radio in which he reported that Those who do not have the accreditation of being Colombian citizens, and who do not have their immigration status regularized, will not have the vaccine.
Currently, Colombia faces a huge challenge due to the passage of Venezuelan migrants fleeing the difficult conditions of the Nicolás Maduro regime.
In 2015, when Venezuela decided for the first time to close the border and expel 22,000 Colombians living in that country, there were 31,471 Venezuelan migrants in Colombia.
Those numbers quickly began to rise and by the beginning of 2017 there were already 403,702 Venezuelans in the country. The acceleration of the economic and social crisis in Venezuela led to the fact that just one year later, the migrant population from Venezuela more than doubled, with 1,174,743 migrants in 2018.
(We suggest you read: Number of Venezuelans in Colombia increases again, after 6 months)
This year, with the arrival of the coronavirus pandemic, some Venezuelans decided to return to their country since April, but in October of this year the number of Venezuelan migrants increased again.
According to figures from Migración Colombia, there are more than 1,717,000 Venezuelans living in Colombia, as of October 31, 2020. About 55 percent of Venezuelans would be in an irregular condition, while the remaining 45 percent would have their situation defined migratory.
The five cities where there are the most Venezuelan migrants are: Bogotá (333,680), San José de Cúcuta (100,220), Barranquilla (94,719), Medellín (88,106) and Cali (59,148).
Many analysts fear an avalanche of migrants to Colombia in search of the vaccine. That would explain the government’s decision to prioritize the delivery of vaccines only to people who are regularized.
(You can continue reading: 420,000 Venezuelan minors already live in Colombia)
POLITICS
