[ad_1]
The priority for vaccination against covidity is designed and discussed around the world. Most countries agree that the elderly and health and care personnel should be far ahead of the queue.
But when it comes to people on the run, few countries have a vaccination plan. Of the 133 nations affiliated with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 81 have completed their vaccination plans and only 54 of them explicitly include refugees, asylum seekers and stateless persons.
Homeless people are also included far from all vaccination schedules and the question of how socioeconomics should be considered is handled in different ways in different countries.
Sweden: examples removed
When the Swedish Public Health Agency published its updated recommendations for vaccine priority in February, the socially disadvantaged were explicitly mentioned. As an example, the homeless and undocumented people stood out, who according to the authority’s assessment would be vaccinated in phase three of the Swedish vaccination plan, before the general public.
The message was met with criticism from, among others, the leader of the moderate party, Ulf Kristersson, who called it “strange” that socioeconomic factors were taken into account.
“The government and authorities should refrain from ordering that it be based on vague motives and that it runs the risk of creating contradictions,” the moderate leader wrote on Facebook, among other things.
The next day, the Public Health Agency removed the two examples.
“The examples given reflect only a small part of the spectrum of situations that may be relevant and therefore may become too controlling to handle,” the authority gave, among other things, as an explanation.
Socioeconomics, on the other hand, must continue to be taken into account in all vaccination work, according to the authority. However, in mid-February, the Stockholm region declared that this aspect will not be considered in the prioritization.
– We do not have low education records, for example. If you start too much dividing people into smaller groups, it makes vaccination difficult. When we turn on the taps, we want everyone to have an equal chance to get vaccinated, not for you to have to think about the income you have, Anna Starbrink (left), Regional Council for Health and Medical Care, told DN.
Political scientist: politically sensitive in many countries
The question of who should be a priority for vaccines is in many ways sensitive for politicians and authorities, says Michael Strange, a political scientist at the University of Malmö and head of the interdisciplinary research project Precision Health and Everyday Democracy on the future of care Swedish and global medical doctor after the pandemic.
– The difficulty is that the population perceives it as something you do to be nice. It’s hard to explain to the public why it’s not about kindness but about protecting everyone’s health and safety, he says and continues:
– In many countries the population has been told that the undocumented are something bad and undesirable, now they are told that they must be cared for and that they are assigned national resources in the form of vaccines.
In the United Kingdom The government’s initiative to vaccinate people without documentation has been called “amnesty” by The Daily Mail newspaper, among others. The government has urged all undocumented immigrants in the country to register with their local care provider, promising that the information will not be used to enforce deportations. It is generally part of the job of British doctors to report people with questionable refugee status.
Vaccine registries, which ensure the right people get the right amount of vaccine at the right time, pose several dilemmas, says Michael Strange.
– The first question is how to maintain good records and at the same time convince those who fear deportation that the records will not be used for it. The next question will be how to defend the public that they do not intend to use the asset that exists when the public wants to see more evictions, he says.
Statistically, mainly older, but also socioeconomically vulnerable groups are overrepresented among those who died from or with covid-19. In many countries, specific ethnicities stand out in the statistics.
When designing vaccine prioritization, there are different ways to justify it to the public. Michael Strange divides it into morals, economics and with the safety of the entire population as a base.
– If someone dies of thirst in another country, morally you will think that it is something bad, but it does not affect you concretely. If, on the other hand, medical care becomes overwhelming in your own country, it will also have consequences for you as a person. With covid-19, there is also the aspect that no matter how protected you are, you and your family members are still at great risk if others are exposed to the virus.
Difficult to reach the most vulnerable
For vaccination to take place, authorities must also contact those affected with information. It becomes much more difficult in certain groups, who have fewer opportunities to obtain correct information and where trust in society is lower.
In Sweden, the authorities received criticism at the beginning of the pandemic, due to the lack of information for people who do not speak Swedish or who have functional variations. Before vaccinations, various information campaigns have specifically targeted socio-economically vulnerable areas.
The regions and the government are responsible for conducting communication efforts about the vaccine and for taking special measures to reach groups that in other contexts have lower vaccination coverage.
Migrants without a residence permit in Sweden are one of the groups where less vaccinated than the rest of the country’s population, according to the previous survey of the Public Health Agency on the subscription of the MPR vaccine (measles, polio and rubella) in Sweden.
Undocumented migrants are generally positive about the vaccine, but do not yet have access to it, according to the authority.
“Undocumented parents gave a consistent image of wanting to vaccinate their children. In this group, it is structural obstacles and fears that prevent them from accessing health care, ”says the survey.
To ensure that as many people as possible are vaccinated against COVID-19, several countries have planned, or have already started, on-site vaccination in shelters and refugee camps. Aid organizations that are used to working with specific groups have also been involved.
Read more:
Vaccine passport proposals for the EU to be presented in March
Healthcare is preparing for a worsening situation
Israel plans third vaccine injection
