Jordan starts ‘world first’ COVID vaccinations in refugee camp

A Syrian refugee receives the Chinese-made Sinopharm coronavirus vaccine at a medical center in the Zaatari refugee camp, in Mafraq, about 80 km (50 miles) north of the Jordanian capital Amman, Monday, Feb. 15, 2021. (AP)

• It’s the first vaccination center in the world to open in a refugee camp
• Around 2,000 had signed up to receive the jab

ZAATARI REFUGEE CAMP, Jordan: Jordan launched a COVID-19 vaccination drive Monday in its huge Zaatari camp for Syrian refugees, in a world first, a UN spokesman said.
“It’s the first vaccination center in the world to open in a refugee camp,” Mohammad Hawari, spokesman in Jordan of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told AFP.
He said that around 2,000 of the 80,000 residents of Zaatari camp on northern Jordan’s border with Syria had signed up with the government to receive the jab.
Some 1,200 of them qualified under the country’s priority system for health workers, those aged over 65 and those with underlying health conditions.
“Today, 52 refugees will receive the vaccine and another 44 on Tuesday,” said Hawari, adding that 164 camp residents had been vaccinated at a center outside Zaatari.
Jordan hosts 663,000 Syrian refugees registered with the United Nations. It started a campaign of free vaccinations of registered refugees on January 13.
According to health authorities, around 50,000 people have so far been vaccinated in Jordan, which has recorded 347,000 cases and 4,455 deaths out of a population of 10.5 million people.