Covid-19 vaccine comes at a price in Mrauk-U Twsp village-tract, residents say

By DMG 06 Dec 2021

DMG Newsroom
6 December 2021, Mrauk-U 

The local administration in Mya Yeik Kyun village-tract, part of Arakan State’s Mrauk-U Township, is charging people K1,500 to receive the Covid-19 vaccine, with the money ostensibly going to pay for the needs of healthcare staff administering the shots. 

U Maung Kyan, head of Mya Yeik Kyun village, said the money was collected to provide food and other services for the healthcare workers. 

“A total of nine healthcare workers came to inject the vaccine for the villagers. We collect money from villagers to treat [feed] them and for other necessities. We can’t collect from all because some people refused to pay,” he said. 

“We had to pay K12,000 to get the vaccine for eight people from our home,” said a resident of Zedigone village in Mya Yeik Kyun village-tract, who asked for anonymity. 

Mya Yeik Kyun village-tract is located about 4 miles from Mrauk-U town. 

A woman from Shwe Tun Phyu village confirmed that she too had paid K1,500 to get the vaccine. 

“We paid for the vaccinations. I didn’t ask why they collected the money,” she said. 

Asked about reports of a K1,500 charge for vaccines in Mya Yeik Kyun village-tract, Dr. Soe Win Paing, assistant director of the Public Health Department in Arakan State, said government departments are working together to prevent difficulties and expenditures for healthcare workers when they travel to administer the vaccine among rural populations. 

“The vaccine is given free of charge to the people. We join with the General Administration Department and other governmental departments to make it easier for the healthcare workers and not to have travel expenditures when they are going to villages to provide the vaccine,” he said. 

Dr. Soe Win Paing said that he had appealed to the government to reimburse healthcare workers for what they spend when they travel to vaccine rural populations. 

In November, villagers paid K2,000 per person for the Covid-19 vaccine in some Kyauktaw Township villages, according to locals. DMG has not yet been able to independently confirm those claims.