Key Considerations: Tackling Structural Discrimination and COVID-19 Vaccine Barriers for Roma Communities in Italy

Abstract

This brief highlights how structural discrimination and social exclusion shape attitudes to COVID-19 vaccines among Roma communities in Italy, and the role trusted communal and public authorities can play in supporting vaccine uptake and tackling broader exclusions. Contradictions in the Italian state’s response to COVID-19, alongside ongoing forms of exclusion can increase Roma mistrust in state initiatives and prevent vaccine participation. This brief aims to aid and inform local government and public health authorities in Italy that serve populations inclusive of Roma communities. This brief is based on research conducted in-person and remotely from November 2021 to January 2022 with Roma and Sinti communities in Milan, Rome and Catania, Italy, which have distinct historical, linguistic, geographical, religious, and other forms of identification. Similarities in how the different Roma communities experience the COVID-19 pandemic, and in their vaccine decisions were identified. This brief was developed for SSHAP by Iliana Sarafian (LSE) with contributions and reviews from Elizabeth Storer (LSE), Tabitha Hrynick (IDS), Dr Marco Solimene (University of Iceland) and Dijana Pavlovic (Upre Roma). The research was funded through the British Academy COVID-19 Recovery: G7 Fund (COVG7210058). Research was based at the Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa, London School of Economics. The brief is the responsibility of SSHAP.

Ethnic minorities, social media, and attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccination

“…There is a complex web of barriers to vaccination for minority ethnic groups. Through ethnographic evidence, our research 3,4 found that access to misinformation on social media was not the main reason for low vaccine uptake. Minority ethnic groups responded to the COVID-19 vaccination campaign based on their socioeconomic circumstances, which were exacerbated by the pandemic; for instance, lack of access to transportation to vaccination centres, barriers in accessing health-care, education, employment, and accommodation, and a previous history of discrimination.…”

How Did the COVID-19 Pandemic and Digital Divide Impact Ciganos/Roma School Pathways?

“…The processes of otherness, social 'bordering', and confinement of entire Roma settlements and neighborhoods in Europe during the pandemic intensified socioeconomic inequalities (Sarafian 2022). While it is true that digital disparities can contribute to educational inequalities, these disparities cyclically reinforce and perpetuate socioeconomic inequalities.…”

COVID-19 vaccination campaigns and the production of mistrust among Roma and migrant populations in Italy

“…While scholars have recognised the need for diversity, this has largely been translated into interventions which adapt health messaging to various linguistic or sociocultural contexts 34–36 39–42. Yet, our evidence suggests that mistrust in vaccines is not only driven by misinformation, but by wider processes of exclusion and discrimination.…”