Caritas Luxembourg has called on the authorities to include people who live or sleep in emergency accommodation for the homeless in the second phase of the national COVID-19 vaccination campaign.
Caritas Luxembourg today published a position paper on the Grand Duchy's current vaccine rollout plan. It this paper, the Luxembourg non-profit organisation welcomed the free availability of vaccines against COVID-19 and recognised the importance of prioritising certain groups. However, the charity stressed that whilst the pandemic has affected the entire population, it is people who live in precarity who have been hit hardest.
Consequently, Caritas Luxembourg has called for the inclusion of people who live or have to sleep in often cramped emergency accommodation for the homeless in the highly vulnerable group eligible for vaccination in the second phase of the campaign. The charity warned that the risk of contagion is considerably increased for these people compared to those occupying individual housing, adding that the necessary preventive measures are difficult to apply in such accommodation.
The non-profit organisation also called for additional measures to be taken, together with various other associations, to ensure access to vaccination for homeless and undocumented people, for whom postal invitations and online bookings are not always possible.
Finally, Caritas Luxembourg asked that fair and equitable access to the vaccine be guaranteed not only in Luxembourg, but globally.
The position paper can be downloaded from Caritas Luxembourg's website.
