“Migrants who transit through border areas will be vaccinated”: Ministry of Health

The Colombian Ministry of Health announced this Saturday that foreigners who transit through the national territory in border areas, regardless of their immigration status, will be vaccinated against covid-19 in order to mitigate the risk of future outbreaks in these municipalities.

This was confirmed by the director of Epidemiology and Demography of the Health portfolio, Julián Fernández, who explained that this measure was adopted through Decree 1671 of 2021 with the intention of minimizing the risk of contagion in border towns, due to low coverage that occurs in neighboring countries.

“It is a step towards the comprehensive protection of migrants, not only with a vocation of permanence -which had already been included in the National Vaccination Plan-, but also, It allows to include these migrants who enter the country, transiting to other regions of the continent or who cross intermittently to side and side of the border for economic reasons, to seek health services or because they have binational families”, Said the official.

Likewise, he pointed out that through these strategies it is sought to protect the lives of Colombian citizens and the migrant population, especially those from Venezuela, a country where low immunization coverage is reported and with which Colombia shares the largest extension of the border. and transit of people.

In this sense, he explained that preferably single-dose biologics will be used for this purpose, such as the Janssen vaccine, with the aim of guaranteeing the greatest coverage with a complete vaccination scheme with a single dose, indicating that the records will be carried out in the same point of vaccination with the intention of avoiding “reprocessing” and the search for each one of the immunized migrants.

“In a context of high human mobility, such as that which occurs in border cities or municipalities, It is not possible to advance towards a certain degree of herd immunity, given the high contact rate, without protecting this floating population that also has contact with the host community”Said the director of Epidemiology of the Ministry.

In relation to the latest data provided by Migración Colombia, eight formal border crossings between Colombia and Venezuela are currently enabled, through which it is estimated that between 7,000 and 70,000 people transit daily, depending on the dynamics of the crossings located in the departments of La Guajira, North from Santander, Arauca, Puerto Carreño and Inírida.

Similarly, the Ministry of Health had made a call last November to migrants living in the national territory that they could approach the vaccination points, regardless of their immigration status, and carry out their immunization.

“In the coming days, all operations will continue to be carried out to communicate and guarantee access to vaccination for all migrants, regardless of their migratory status, who are in border areas.. This will allow us to have greater protection for everyone as Colombians, but, above all, to be consistent with the need to protect migrants ”, concluded the epidemiologist Fernández.

KEEP READING