Mizoram extends Covid-19 vaccination to Myanmar refugees

According to official state government records, there are at least 14,254 refugees taking refuge across 11 districts of Mizoram as of November 12. Champhai district, located along the Indo-Myanmar border, is currently sheltering 7,291 refugees, the highest number, followed by Lawngtlai, which has 1,746 refugees.

The official said that it was “practical” to inoculate the refugees, since they were living in Mizoram. “We do not know how long they will be here. Moreover, in the last few months, Mizoram has seen a high number of Covid cases, even though it is coming down now. So vaccinating everyone is a must,” he said.

The vaccination process is carried out by chief medical officers in respective districts. “We inform them in advance and they come to vaccination sites arranged by the government,” said an official posted in one of the border districts. “We have been testing them upon entry anyway, now we are carrying out vaccinations too,” he said.

“They are our guests and while they are here, we will provide them with whatever assistance they need,” said the senior government official.

Since March, after the military junta staged a coup in Myanmar, thousands of refugees from the Chin state have crossed over the border into Mizoram. While the Centre had ordered that borders be closed to Myanmar refugees, the Mizoram National Front (MNF) government, led by Zoramthanga, had welcomed them as fellow brethren, invoking a common tribal lineage and “deep ethnic bonds”. In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in March, Chief Minister Zoramthanga wrote: “… the Myanmar areas bordering Mizoram are inhabited by Chin communities who are ethnically our Mizo brethren with whom we have (had) close contact… even before India became independent… Mizoram cannot just remain indifferent to their sufferings today.”

In September, the Mizoram government had arranged for children of refugee Myanmar nationals to get admission in schools in the state, citing that children of disadvantaged communities have the right to be admitted to school. Currently 2010 children are admitted in schools across Mizoram.