This review sought to identify the government’s policy responses toward migrants with regard to COVID-19 and lessons that could be learned for future pandemic preparedness, especially in terms of migrant health policy. This reversal from their March 2020 stance not to arrest undocumented migrants resulted in avoidable COVID-19 clusters in overcrowded immigration detention centres [61]. A similar situation unfolded in 2021 when Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin announced that undocumented migrants could freely get vaccinated. This flip-flopping contributed to fear of arrest and vaccine hesitancy among undocumented migrants [62]. Lessons learnedBased on the identified key issues related to policies concerning migrant workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia, two important lessons emerge:1.
