VACCINE MIGRANTS, by Dario Pio Muccilli

As all the world knows Italy was the first western country to be harshly hit by the pandemic. It is now facing a challenge that could soon affect other nations: the vaccination of migrants.
In the Boot that we call Italy there are roughly six million transient workers. As of yet there is no plan in pace to vaccinate this poorer social strata coming mainly from Africa and Eastern Europe.

“No one directly tells them ‘you are excluded,’ but at the same time no one does anything to prove otherwise” explains Dr. Salvatore Geraci, a member of the Immigration Health Bureau, who at the beginning of February sent a letter to the Government pointing out that migrants should not be forgotten by the vaccination campaign, which is now mainly focused on native citizens.

“The risk is to repeat last April’s attitude towards them. At that time the government said ‘stay home’, but many migrants did not have a house or the resources to survive without going out. No one cared except solidarity associations like ours, but it was not enough to avoid a social disaster” stresses Geraci, who believes “that forgetting migrants might undermine the campaign’s efficacy”.

Indeed, current data reveals how the immunity coming from Pfizer, AstraZeneca and so on is not permanent, as it may last less than one year. Hence there’s the need to have the largest possible percentage of society immunized to save the whole “herd”.

As soon as the first categories—health care workers and the elderly get vaccinated, this issue will break out and then we will see how much the claims of certain government officials of solidarity with migrants are real or simply propaganda.

Walking through the migrants populated areas of Barriera or Falchera in Turin there’s few will to talk about the vaccine and the virus amidst the foreigners living there. Some believe it is fake news and simply refuse to talk. But however the feelings, most do not expect to be helped,, based on past experiences.

“For the Government we’re not part of this state so we should have expected that our health wouldn’t have been a priority in the agenda” states Aziz, an itinerant merchant who came to Italy 30 years ago from Nigeria, and agreed to talk to the Star-Revue “I would love that after a life in this country serving local people in Porta Palazzo (an open market in Barriera) someone would have recognized the right for me to be freed from this plague”.

Instead he will probably have to wait longer than his Italian neighbors and colleagues, due to a tacit political will to vaccinate Italians first, “because migrants don’t vote,” comments Aziz.

This political will is evident in the publicity of the vaccination campaign, that puts native Italians ahead of other residents . Such an awful paradigm should be smashed, according to progressive politicians such as Marco Grimaldi, a regional councilman in Piedmont for the Free Equal Green Party.

“Everyone agrees that big pharmas like Biontech made incredible efforts to produce the vaccine in a brief time, but above all we should avoid a wild privatization of a common good like the vaccine.

Hence we must abolish any sort of patent or earning as regards vaccines, because otherwise our cities, nations and even our world will be divided into two halves: the richer immunized and the poorer not. It will be a mess” he states.

Asked if this means that an abolition of private property is required as regards health he smiles, saying “We need health socialism.”

 

 

Author

Share:

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn

Comments are closed.

READ OUR FULL PRINT EDITION

click here to see our previous issues.

Our Sister Publication

a word from our sponsors!

Latest Media Guide!

Where to find the Star-Revue

Instagram

How many have visited our site?

wordpress hit counter

Social Media

Most Popular

On Key

Related Posts

Special birthday issue – information for advertisers

Author George Fiala George Fiala has worked in radio, newspapers and direct marketing his whole life, except for when he was a vendor at Shea Stadium, pizza and cheesesteak maker in Lancaster, PA, and an occasional comic book dealer. He studied English and drinking in college, international relations at the New School, and in his spare time plays drums and

PS 15’s ACES program a boon for students with special needs, by Laryn Kuchta

At P.S. 15 Patrick F. Daly in Red Hook, staff are reshaping the way elementary schoolers learn educationally and socially. They’ve put special emphasis on programs for students with intellectual disabilities and students who are learning or want to learn a second language, making sure those students have the same advantages and interactions any other child would. P.S. 15’s ACES

Big donors taking an interest in our City Council races

The New York City Council primary is less than three months away, and as campaigns are picking up steam, so are donations. In districts 38 and 39 in South Brooklyn, Incumbents Alexa Avilés (District 38) and Shahana Hanif (District 39) are being challenged by two moderate Democrats, and as we reported last month, big money is making its way into

Wraptor celebrates the start of spring

Red Hook’s Wraptor Restaurant, located at 358 Columbia St., marked the start of spring on March 30. Despite cool weather in the low 50s, more than 50 people showed up to enjoy the festivities. “We wanted to do something nice for everyone and celebrate the start of the spring so we got the permits to have everyone out in front,”