Covid vaccine to be provided at Thet Kal Pyin Muslim IDP camp, over a dozen others in Arakan State

By DMG 27 Aug 2021

DMG Newsroom
27 August 2021, Sittwe  

Covid-19 vaccines are to be provided for the residents of 15 displacement camps in Arakan State, starting at the Thet Kal Pyin Muslim camp for internally displaced people (IDPs) in Sittwe Township on August 28, according to Arakan State’s Department of Medical Services. 

“The people over 65 years old will be vaccinated first. We will go and vaccinate at Thet Kal Pyin refugee camp tomorrow [August 28],” said Dr. Kyi Lwin, head of the Department of Medical Services in Arakan State. 

Vaccinations will be provided for people over 65 at 15 IDP camps in Sittwe, Mrauk-U, Myebon, Kyauktaw, Minbya and Ann townships, Dr. Kyi Lwin said. 

U Hla Thein, a member of the Arakan State military council, on August 21 said the council planned to vaccinate 50,000 people from Arakanese and Muslim IDP camps. 

Ko Zaw Zaw Tun, secretary of the Rakhine Ethnics Congress (REC), said inoculating at IDP camps was a good initiative, adding that he welcomed the inclusion of Muslim displacement camps in the vaccination campaign. 

There are more than 100,000 Arakanese IDPs and more than 200,000 Muslim IDPs in Arakan State, according to the REC.  

Arakan State’s Department of Public Health this week began administering second doses of the vaccine to more than 90,000 people who were part of the first large-scale vaccination drive under the military regime that seized power on February 1.