COVID passes not a priority for border police as Ukraine’s refugee crisis worsens
Thousands of refugees arrive in Poland daily, travelling around without masks as they flee the war in Ukraine. Since the Russian invasion began, refugees have been allowed to enter Poland without coronavirus vaccine certificates or proof of negative COVID-19 tests.
The World Health Organisation has expressed concerns that the conflict could negatively impact public health in Ukraine, including the spread of COVID-19.
But the head of the Urban Search and Rescue mission which has been observing and treating many of the refugees in the border town of Medyka, Jean-Claude Cordeau, said that "COVID does not have an as high of an importance in this crisis".
"COVID at this border crossing here in Medyka is obviously not a priority. Not a priority for us, and not a priority for refugees that are arriving."
"We mainly deal with small children with hypothermia and we treat urgent cases so they can continue with their journey," he said.
About 60 child cancer patients from Ukraine boarded a medical train Saturday in Medyka, bound for hospitals in Warsaw and elsewhere.
Medical workers carried some of the children in their arms, on stretchers, and pushed them in wheelchairs at the train station near the Ukrainian border.
Dominik Daszuta, an anesthesiologist from Warsaw Hospital, said the train has transported 120 children with cancer so far.
Refugees feel that worries about the virus have been "overpowered" by the conflict. Before Russia's assault on Ukraine began, the country had a low inoculation rate with just 35% of the population fully vaccinated.
"In my opinion, COVID is a real disease, but after the war began in Ukraine COVID disappeared, because the war is more global and a worse problem for humanity," said Julia Vlasik, a refugee
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