Foreigners who are in the country, in irregular immigration status, may receive vaccines against Covid-19, but they must demonstrate that they have roots here. This past Friday, both authorities of the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Communication made the corresponding announcement.
Migrants with irregular status must demonstrate in the health area that corresponds to them, according to place of residence, their status of rootedness in the country through the analysis of the local level of the health establishments of the Costa Rican Social Security Fund (CCSS).
Some examples of the evidence that can be presented for the rooting analysis are:
– Be included in the EDUS family file
– Have a record of children enrolled in educational centers
– Note from the place where you work, indicating the period of time worked
– Property registries nationwide
Local analysis
Pedro González, Deputy Minister of Health, affirmed that in order to vaccinate the largest number of people living in the country against COVID-19, the CCSS immunizes regular and irregular migrants and refugee applicants. And it does so as long as they meet the requirements established in current regulations.
“The population that does not have regular migrant status, but that the local level has evidence of rootedness, can be vaccinated.” “This analysis is carried out at the local level of the health establishments of the Health Services Network, through the mechanisms that show that the person has lived in the country for several years”, according to version 10, of the vaccination manual against Covid-19, in the centers of the CCSS.
It is not vaccine tourism
In this regard, Agustín Castro, Minister of Communication, ruled out that vaccine tourism is being promoted in the country. At the same time, he stressed that both foreigners who are in regular condition and those who are under the figure of refuge, must comply with a series of established requirements.
Change of option?
Until the previous Tuesday, the Minister of Health, Daniel Salas, said that efforts were being made to vaccinate undocumented foreigners who are in the country. This after almost two months ago, the president, Carlos Alvarado, assured that “There is already a solution on the way.”
In this sense, Alvarado commented that both the Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Health were in the process of obtaining vaccines for this population group. Meanwhile, at a press conference on Tuesday, Health Minister Daniel Salas said that efforts are being made to obtain the corresponding doses for irregular migrants. “There has not been enough progress in the introduction of vaccines,” Salas said, adding that the country immunizes migrants with regular immigration status.
And the search for vaccines?
The previous August, before the Tax Affairs Committee of the Legislative Assembly, Salas stated that, for migrants in an irregular condition, more donations of vaccines were being sought from other countries. At that time, he explained that there were diplomatic efforts being made through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to seek support in international cooperation.
At the same time, he mentioned that negotiations are being made with the United Nations to obtain more vaccines and “to be able to cover the foreign population that does not have a regularity condition in our country,” Salas said.
