India’s asylum seekers vulnerable to Covid-19 infection with no access to vaccines

Since the start of the pandemic last year, India has reported more than 31 million cases and more than 424,000 deaths

However, activists are concerned that advocating for vaccination for refugees could backfire if the issue becomes politicised

Reading Time:4 minutes

A health worker administers a Covid-19 vaccine dose to a farmer in Gujarat. Photo: Reuters

Published: 8:22pm, 1 Aug 2021Updated: 9:13pm, 1 Aug 2021

Zabi Astanikzai has tried several times in the past month to register himself and his family of five to receive Covid-19 vaccine jabs, but every hospital in New Delhi he visited turned him away.

“Our Afghan passports have expired,” the 44-year-old said. “We have UNHRC [United Nations Human Rights Council] asylum seeker cards, but they are not accepted at the hospital for vaccination.

“You either need an Adhar card or a driving licence or any other Indian government-issued identity card. We don’t have any of those documents,” he said. Adhar cards are a national biometric identification system used in India for its 1.3 billion citizens.

Zabi and his family went to India eight years ago after fleeing the US-led war in Afghanistan. They have since stayed in the New Delhi suburb of Bhogal – a small neighbourhood with clusters of buildings where Afghan asylum seekers have lived since the 1980s, when the Soviets invaded their country.

According to the United Nations High Commission For Refugees (UNHCR), there are currently more than 15,000 Afghan asylum seekers living in India.

In April, when India experienced a surge in Covid-19 infections, Zabi and his wife contracted Covid-19.

“When my wife and I tested positive, we tried to get admission in a hospital, but they were already full,” Zabi said.

India’s asylum seekers vulnerable to Covid-19 infection with no access to vaccines

Since the start of the pandemic last year, India has reported more than 31 million cases and more than 424,000 deaths However, activists are concerned that advocating for vaccination for refugees could backfire if the issue becomes politicised

Since the start of the pandemic last year, India has reported more than 31 million cases and more than 424,000 deaths

However, activists are concerned that advocating for vaccination for refugees could backfire if the issue becomes politicised