not grant residency and is limited to a one-year permit. Carrying out this program at this juncture will help to make these people visible and overcome any hesitation that the authorities or the migrants themselves may have, with a view to including them in the national COVID-19 vaccination plan. However, while the Dominican authorities determine a roadmap for the sustainability of the PNRE (in progress since 2014/2015 and benefiting mostly Haitians) some local governments are adopting pragmatic measures to maximize vaccination coverage in their jurisdictions. Starting on May 10, 2021, a local plan aims to include all adults regardless of their documentation status. In some places along the southern border of the DR, moves are afoot to vaccinate all adults using a certification from the local authorities regarding the person’s de facto residence and age. Such initiatives are undertaken in the spirit of IOM’s slogan: “Everyone is affected by COVID-19. All are mobilized for recovery. All are equally vaccinated.”24 Despite the initiatives for inclusion or “vaccination equity” at the local level, the official exclusion of the undocumented population from the vaccination plan stands in sharp contrast to the discourse circulating at the beginning of the pandemic about everyone being in this together. This confirms the persistence of social 24. Information provided by CEDESO, May 3, 2021. boundaries and the grave risk of deepening pre-existing inequalities. Instead of recognizing our mutual humanity and collective interdependence in terms of public health, the opportunity to defeat the virus through mass vaccination becomes another exercise in migration control and social exclusion of the descendant population. In addition, limiting access to vaccination based on documentation or immigration status contravenes the recommendations of the relevant organizations working on these issues, such as the United Nations and the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion (ISI 2020). i) Documentation processes Civil Registry services in the Dominican Republic were suspended during the first period of the state of emergency between March and May 2020. They resumed in June 2020 with the implementation of new hygiene and prevention protocols. The JCE delegations located in hospitals were also closed (UNHCR and OAS 2020b: 17). The JCE informed the public about its plans to resume services through its website and institutional social networks, but in contrast to other countries in the region, it did not communicate through WhatsApp, community leaders or a press release (UNHCR and OAS 2020b). The closures postponed birth registration for babies born during the state of emergency, creating a backlog of files to process. 30 Research Brief: COVID-19 Impacts on Haitian Migrants and their Descendants on the Southern Border of the D.R.