Myanmar says Rohingya minority will get COVID-19 vaccine

BANGKOK (AP) — A spokesman for Myanmar’s military-installed government says COVID-19 vaccines will be given to members of the country’s persecuted Muslim Rohingya ethnic minority. The Rohingya were the target of a fierce counter-insurgency campaign in 2017 that some critics charge amounted to ethnic cleansing or even genocide. Myanmar faces a devastating COVID-19 outbreak, although the daily number of reported new cases and deaths has been falling. Myanmar’s poor public health system was weakened further by the political turmoil caused by the army’s February takeover of power from the elected government. The Rohingya face widespread discrimination and most are denied citizenship and other basic rights. More than 700,000 Rohingya have fled to neighboring Bangladesh.