The Jalisco Health Secretariat, as the health authority in charge of achieving the protection and improvement of the health of Jalisco, applied Covid vaccinations to people who are refugees in this entity.
In conjunction with the General Strategic Coordination of Social Development of the Government of Jalisco, the UN Agency for Refugees (UNHCR,) and the Jalisco Health Secretariat (SSJ,) joined forces to transfer around 39 people from Honduras, El Salvador, and Venezuela to the macro-module of Vaccination installed in the Benito Juárez Auditorium, so that they could receive their first dose of Covid vaccination.
In this way, it contributes to the protection of Jalisco, as well as the people who for one reason or another decide to reside or migrate to Jalisco. The commitment to maintain a safe state is reiterated with the inoculation of people who for some reason or circumstance they are forced to leave their country of origin.
For Oriana, a 24 year old refuge originally from Venezuela, who has already lived in the entity for five years, states that "I think it is an excellent initiative, because we have certain limitations because we are not from this country, and the attention seemed very good to me.”
Jairo, also 24 and from Honduras, who has lived in Jalisco for three months, reiterated his gratitude for taking this vulnerable group into account, due to the fact that it is not his country, and he decided to get vaccinated for social conscience to protect themselves and the local population.
According to UNHCR, the health of those forced to flee is an important priority. The 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees states that refugees should have access to health services equivalent to those of the host population, while everyone is entitled, under international law, to the highest standards of physical and mental health.
It should be noted that the SSJ, through the Jalisco Health Services OPD, offers the Health Prevention and Promotion program for the Migrant Population throughout the state, which provides free care to people from the interior of the country, many times day laborers and agricultural workers, as well as people from other countries.
With this, the agency aims to strengthen health services aimed at these vulnerable groups with the prevention, protection, and promotion of health; in order to achieve a healthy Jalisco.