Refugee Immunizations: Background and Current Overseas and Domestic Approaches

Guest post by Janine Young, MD, FAAP
Associate Professor of Pediatrics, University of Colorado School of Medicine
Medical Director, Denver Health Refugee Clinic

Globally, we are witnessing the worst humanitarian crisis since World War II; there are over 65 million displaced people and, of these, less than one percent are referred by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for permanent resettlement to other countries. The maximum number of U.S. refugee arrival numbers is decided by an annual Presidential determination. In federal fiscal year 2016, the U.S. resettled 85,000 refugees; however, for this fiscal year, 2018, the arrival number was lowered to 45,000. In fiscal year 2017, the US resettled 51,392 refugees. This compares to Germany’s initiative in 2015 to resettle over 900,000 refugees, over half from Syria.

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