Eligibility
The United Nations is rolling out a COVID-19 Vaccination Programme to UN personnel who are not covered by the host-country vaccination programmes within an acceptable timeframe or with a WHO-approved vaccine. Within this context, eligible UN retirees in affected countries can receive COVID-19 vaccinations through the UN system-wide vaccination initiative.
In terms of eligibility, as per UN instructions, it is specified that only former UN system staff who are now retirees and are in receipt of a periodic benefit payment from the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund (UNJSPF) are eligible to be vaccinated through this initiative.
The Fund’s role and activities
In order to help eligible UNJSPF retirees take advantage of this opportunity, the Fund is actively collaborating with the UN project team and has communicated with eligible UNJSPF retirees about the UN Vaccination Programme. It will further contact the Federation of Associations of Former Civil Servants to help inform eligible retirees without email addresses in the Fund’s records, so they can take the required steps to self-register in the registration platform.
The UN COVID-19 Vaccination Programme is managed and coordinated by the UN Department of Operational Support. The UNJSPF is merely a data provider for this initiative and communicates with different entities like retiree associations, UN Local Vaccine Deployment Coordinators and concerned organizations to relay information about programme deployment for eligible retirees. The Fund is neither involved in the management of the Vaccination Programme nor associated decision-making. As such, the UNJSPF is not in a position to answer queries about the Programme.
Registration
Eligible retirees can be registered for vaccination in one of the following two ways:
1. Retiree Pre-registration by UNJSPF: For those eligible retirees who have an email address on record with the UNJSPF, the Fund was able to include their names as part of the pre-registered retiree population data upload for the UN Vaccination Programme; their information is, thus, included in the COVID vaccine registration platform. Once the UN vaccine deployment starts in their country of residence, they will receive a system-generated email from the UN registration platform with a link to complete their registration process. Once they complete their pre-registration and vaccines become available in their location, these retirees will receive an email to schedule an appointment for vaccination based on UN-administered priority levels.
2. Retiree Self-registration: Retirees who do NOT have an email address on record with the UNJSPF cannot be pre-registered in the vaccination registration platform but will need to self-register first. Upon local vaccine deployment, eligible UNJSPF retirees can self-register. They should contact their UN Local Vaccine Deployment Coordinators on when and how to self-register in the registration platform. When self-registration is completed, their information thus entered in the registration platform will be checked for eligibility for vaccine programme participation by relevant UN entities. Once their self-registration has been validated, they will be added to the list of eligible retirees for vaccination and will be notified once vaccines become available based on UN-administered priority levels.
Vaccination priority
The Programme is primarily a workplace occupational health programme to allow UN Personnel to stay and deliver on mandates with confidence. As such, active workers in high-risk occupations will be prioritized, and eligible retirees may not have access to vaccine in the first rounds.
Queries
All questions relating to this Programme should be addressed to the UN Local Vaccine Deployment Coordinators or the UN-monitored generic email address [email protected].
The UN-administered resource website for the COVID-19 Vaccination Programme also provides a wealth of related information and we would strongly encourage interested retirees to consult the website and materials on it.
Resources
