With the vaccination of non-EU laborers, Commissioner Figliuolo’s plan accelerates with the recovery of an important portion of the population that lives far from urban centers and is more difficult to reach. The Coldiretti initiative starts from the Foggia vaccination hub in Viale Sant’Alfonso Maria d Liguori, 1 with the workers of Ghetto Out – Casa Sankara and those who live and work in the countryside. A path dedicated to reception, triage, 2 vaccination stations and observation area has been created, with the booking procedure which – specifies Coldiretti – has provided for the identification of lists on lists collected by the farms in the province of Foggia that have submitted the request for administration with the Pfzier vaccine. The administration of doses to workers in the agricultural sector is an opportunity made possible by the extension of the vaccination plan to the productive categories that has seen Coldiretti protagonist in protecting the health of employees and associates throughout the territory. On a national level – underlines Coldiretti – more than a quarter of the Made in Italy at the table is obtained from foreign hands, with 368 thousand workers from 155 different countries who have regularly found employment in agriculture, providing 29% of the total days of work needed by the sector. For the vast majority, these are workers who – explains Coldiretti – have often collaborated for years to guarantee professionalism and experience to Italian agricultural companies and who cross the border every year and then return to their own country.
Over 40% of the total are community-based seasonal workers from Romania, Poland and Bulgaria and other European countries that can benefit from the European green pass to encourage the free movement of tourists and workers but the presence of non-EU citizens is significant, which must be protected at an important moment – continues Coldiretti – for the health of 10 million of citizens living in rural areas and ensure the security of food supplies. In this context – argues Coldiretti – it is necessary to overcome the delay accumulated for the enactment of the 2021 flows decree which should bring another 18 thousand non-EU workers to the countryside of the boot but also the bureaucratic difficulties that hinder the employment of Italian workers in a difficult situation. in which other economic sectors are found. To date, 141 Coldiretti offices and 27 corporate offices with many Regions have already been “approved” as vaccination points already in possession of all the requisites that have already started operational meetings with the local Coldiretti structures for vaccination activities with the goal of involving 1.5 million employees, farmers and workers in the Made in Italy agri-food chain. The objective of the Coldiretti vaccination plan is to guarantee the safety of food supplies to the population on the entire network of over one million realities divided between 740 thousand farms, 70 thousand food industries and 230 thousand points of sale and 360 thousand bars, restaurants and agritourisms for a total of 3.6 million jobs.
