Covid-19: the government calls for an acceleration of the vaccination for asylum seekers and refugees

Faced with the Delta variant, the vaccination campaign must accelerate for the most vulnerable.

It is in this sense that the government on Tuesday asked the prefects and directors general of ARS to continue their efforts by targeting asylum seekers and precarious refugees.

In passing, the executive reiterated its objective set on July 5 to vaccinate all this population "by the end of August".

Residents of migrant workers' homes and populations housed in the national reception system (DNA) "have poorer vaccination coverage than the rest of the population", recalls the circular, signed by the Minister of Health Olivier Véran and the Minister for Citizenship Marlène Schiappa.

Read also Coronavirus: in the midst of an epidemic, asylum seekers in oblivion

"Despite the significant efforts made by national operators, obstacles to vaccination remain", write the ministers, referring in particular to "the language barrier" and the "little computer equipment available in homes and centers to make an appointment. you online ”.

To speed up the campaign, the government is asking the prefects and regional health agencies (ARS) to favor the “most effective” devices, allowing “in situ” vaccination, that is to say on site, with the deployment traveling centers or mobile vaccination teams.

An update by "end of August"

The medical services of the territorial delegations of the French Office for Immigration and Integration (Ofii) may also "be authorized as vaccination centers for this public" in the coming weeks, specifies the circular.

Asked about the current vaccination coverage of people accommodated in reception centers, the entourage of Marlène Schiappa indicated that the figures were not available since "the managers of these structures do not communicate them" in real time.

Prefects and directors of ARS will have to organize a situation update "by the end of August" in order to report to the government on the progress of vaccination campaigns in their departments.

"Vaccinating refugees and migrants is not only a legal and moral imperative, but also a medical necessity", Amnesty International warned last June, worrying to see, in many countries, their exclusion from vaccination plans .