Uzbekistan: colonies have problems with vaccination against COVID-19
70 % of the total number of convicts in closed institutions were vaccinated against COVID-19, 27 thousand doses of vaccine were received in the prisons. This was announced by the Department to human rights defenders from the initiative group “Open line”. The response didn’t specify when and what kind of vaccine was used, how many employees of penitentiary institutions, in addition to prisoners, received it.
According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, as of August 17, 2020, the number of convicts in Uzbekistan’s punishment system is 22.9 thousand. It’s unlikely that these data have changed dramatically since then.
According to experts, simple mathematical calculations show the unreality of the declared mass vaccinations in the colonies. Checking the facts from the official sources already makes it possible to mistrust the numbers. The special commission decided to introduce compulsory vaccination of the population. By September 1, security officials should be vaccinated with the first component, by October 1 – with the second component, and by November 1 – with the third one.
Three-time introduction of vaccine indicates the use of an Uzbek-Chinese preparation. This means that several thousand out of 27 thousand vaccines will definitely not get to prisoners even as the first vaccination.
In penal colonies, convicts themselves are obliged to buy their own drugs, since they work and can purchase a vaccine. This statement aroused indignation among activists. Spokesman for the Service for Sanitary and Epidemiological Wellbeing and Public Health, Muhammadjon Bozorov, announced in April this year about free vaccination against coronavirus for the residents of Uzbekistan.
Fact-checking showed that the National Immunization Program provides free vaccinations included in the country calendar of preventive vaccinations and vaccinations for epidemic indications.
Meanwhile, the epidemiological situation in the colonies has become even more acute. For example, in the colony-settlement No. 42 (Zangiata district of Tashkent region), at least 15 people have symptoms of coronavirus disease. The administration of the colony prohibits diagnostics in paid clinics, and employees of the local sanitary and epidemiological station, for some unknown reason, don’t do free PCR tests.
“The colony is crowding more prisoners into limited space. Three more convicts are put into the cell, where three people already live. The stuffiness and heat are suffocating, there isn’t a breath of air,” Tatyana Dovlatova, leader of Open line, comments on the situation.
Colonel Bakhodyr Yusupov, responsible for medical care in all prisons of the country under the Interior Ministry, didn’t respond to a single letter from human rights activists.
