Porte de la Villette, in northeast Paris, is a meeting point, a marketplace, and a melting pot of different nationalities and backgrounds.

It is located at a busy intersection where most of the traffic is to or from the multi-lane ring road that encircles Paris. Fast trains hurtle over the nearby railway bridge on their way out of the French capital.

More than a hundred people were crowding around the exit to the Metro station when we arrived. Some are laying out a small rug to display electronics for sale. Others hawk clothes, while more exchange cigarettes and alcohol.

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Music blares from portable speakers as a man does pull-ups on the frame of the station exit door. Groups of men – and it is almost all men – sit on the curb and eat from lunch boxes handed out from a food distribution center around the corner.

Porte de la Villette is also where a mobile vaccination clinic is run by Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), or Doctors Without Borders. While there, we meet Brice Daverton, a doctor who is the specialist for COVID-19 in the area. 

"These people don't want to go into a regular vaccine center because they are worried about the fact that they are in an irregular situation," he said.

"We have people who think they can't be vaccinated because they don't have any social insurance, for example. We know that this population is sometimes a bit suspicious of institutions, so we can reach them because of the fact that we are Medecins Sans Frontieres."

This is a place of healthcare without judgment and vaccination without preconditions. Many of the people gathered here live either on the streets or in temporary shelters.

There are refugees from Afghanistan, asylum-seekers from Bangladesh and migrants from North Africa.

"It's important to avoid coronavirus, to protect my family, my friends, everyone. The vaccine is important for everybody," said a man who has come from Algeria.

He played us a music video in which he has appeared, adding that the rest of his family live in Italy.

"I'm getting vaccinated to protect myself first off and also my family and my fellow citizens, to try to prevent getting COVID-19," said another man, who came along for a jab with his toddler son.

Millions of French citizens booked their vaccinations on their phones or online, but that is not an option for people who do not have access to a smartphone or the internet.

MSF provides a multilingual translator onsite for some people who cannot speak French or English. There is further language support on the phone if needed.

As in any city, many people in Paris are not as privileged or do not have access to the same advantages as others. But the message from MSF is that anyone can catch COVID-19 and everyone needs to be protected from the pandemic, even if they live in unstructured social situations.

Cover image: Ross Cullen/CGTN