Man in refugee detention infected with Covid-19 wanted vaccine but did not get it

A man infected with Covid-19 while being kept in a Melbourne hotel room asked for the vaccine but did not get it, according to reports.

A Kurdish-Iranian asylum seeker in detention in a Melbourne hotel room wanted the Covid-19 vaccine but did not get it in time.

Now he is infected with the deadly virus in what refugee advocates are calling confirmation of their “worst fears”.

At least three people have tested positive to the coronavirus at the Park Hotel in Carlton after reporting symptoms as early as last week.

A refugee held in Park Hotel said: “The situation is very dangerous and very very bad. I think everyone can get Covid-19 in the Park Hotel, it is not safe?

“We have been here eight years for what? What can I say? The situation is very bad, no one has come to visit, despite Covid-19 no one has seen us.”

Supporters wave to a group of refugees from the Park Hotel in Carlton. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

SBS News spoke with Kurdish-Iranian asylum seeker Mohammad Sohrabi who has become infected after being moved from a facility in Adelaide two months ago.

He said he had signed papers to get vaccinated when he arrived but had his appointment delayed time and time again prior to becoming infected.

“I wasn’t on the list (to be vaccinated) and then they did it another time for some other people and again, I wasn’t on the list,” he told SBS News.

Advocates say it isn’t good enough. They say they warned the Federal Government “for over 18 months that the decision to keep refugees and people seeking asylum in immigration detention centres is dangerous and a threat to public health”.

In a statement, the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre said “numerous organisations” including “the Australian Human Rights Commission, the Commonwealth Ombudsman, the Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases and the Australasian College for Infection Prevention and Control” had issued warnings to the Morrison Government to no avail.

Refugees can be seen in a window of the Park Hotel in Carlton. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Ian Currie

“The Morrison Government has persistently ignored the warnings, detaining nearly 90 refugees and people seeking asylum in extremely dangerous conditions, with as many as 45 people in Park Hotel itself.”

Jana Favero, Director of Advocacy and Campaigns for ASRC, said: “The people held in Park Hotel and the refugees held in detention centres around Australia have been denied justice and freedom for over eight years.

“Kept in Australia’s overcrowded immigration detention centres the health risks have always been a serious concern, with Covid-19 they are critical.

“The reports of a Covid-19 case have confirmed our worst fears and the government has responded by providing next to no information or transparency.

“Immigration detention is not an adequate environment to treat Covid-19 — who will be responsible for monitoring those affected? There are so many questions the government has not answered.”

Police keep a close watch on a refugee protest outside the Park Hotel in Carlton. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Geraghty

Dr Graham Thom, Refugee Adviser at Amnesty International Australia, said: “The expert medical advice could not have been any clearer about the risk of detaining vulnerable individuals during a global pandemic.

“On top of the years held offshore these men, transferred for medical treatment, have now been detained for close to 2 years in conditions wholly unsuitable.”

A spokesperson for the Australian Border Force said detainees had been “immediately placed into quarantine” when they presented with symptoms and “standard departmental protocols are being followed in relation to a positive diagnosis including contact tracing, quarantining, testing and cleaning, in conjunction with the Victorian public health unit”.