From Availability to Accessibility. Vaccination Proximity in a Social Clinic in Palermo

The present paper explores protests and initiatives in the vaccination field carried out by organisations developed within social movements, specifically focusing on the collective social actors involved in the Covid-19 vaccination campaign by proposing differentiated intervention strategies to ensure equity in access to the vaccine. The case study is the social clinic of Borgovecchio (Palermo) which developed a vaccination centre that responds to the principles of Primary Health Care (accessible, proactive and inspired by a spirit of 'proximity'). The social clinic is located in the community centre Anomalia. Data collection was carried out through observation and semi-structured interviews. The so-called 'proximity vaccine centre' project results from the radical criticism of the official vaccination campaign. The paper analyses the distinctive elements between this grassroots initiative and the official vaccination campaign, the initiative's guiding principles and goals, the organisational aspects and the ambivalences of the relationship with institutions. The results suggest that the primary goal of the "grassroots vaccine centre" was to safeguard the inhabitants of the district through a 're-territorialisation' of the intervention and the valorisation of different elements such as relation, spatial proximity and "trust". Additionally, the involvement of the social clinic in the vaccination campaigns represents an unprecedented collaboration between the National Health System and an informal organisation. Consequently, this case study represents a privileged observation point for analysing the relationships and conflicts between a self-organised experience and governmental institutions. Finally, this contribution suggests a broad reflection on the processes of politicisation in the healthcare domain and on the risk that initiatives implemented in an emergency logic produce or reinforce further inequalities in access to services.

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

Achieving high rates of COVID-19 vaccination has become central to a return to normalcy in a post-pandemic world. Accordingly, exceptional measures, such as the regulation of immunity through vaccine passports and restrictions that distinguished between vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals, became a feature of vaccination campaigns in certain G7 countries. Such policies stand in tension with recent supranational European Union policies that seek to build inclusion and trust through engaging minoritised groups in vaccine campaigns. To explore this tension, we present novel ethnographic data produced with migrant and Roma communities in Italy. Our evidence suggests that under restrictive measures, many within these groups initially described as ‘vaccine hesitant’ have accepted a vaccine. Yet, rather than indicating successful civic engagement, we find that vaccine acceptance was tied to deepening mistrust in science and the state. Considering the structural socioeconomic, historical and cultural elements informing people’s vaccination choices, we propose a shift in emphasis towards equitable principles of engagement.