Institutional portal - Municipality of Milan

Rabaiotti: “This operation is a concrete sign of the importance of networks and the ability to collaborate, to protect homeless people” 

Milan, August 4 2021 - The "On the road" operation has started, to vaccinate homeless people living on the streets against Covid 19, the result of collaboration between the Municipality of Milan, the Third Sector, Ats, Areu and the Lombardy Region. It started yesterday and continues today - between 19pm and 30pm - with the first two experimental appointments which will serve to verify and fine-tune the entire organisation, if necessary, after which it will resume having a period of time available longer, about ten days, after August 21th. 

The Municipality of Milan, through the Sammartini Centre, will coordinate the operations and involve all 19 mobile units already active on the road which will have the task of accompanying people to the three campers which will act as vaccination centres: one will be positioned in front of the Central Station, managed by the Italian Volunteer Doctors, another in front of Garibaldi Station, managed by Cisom, and the third in Piazza San Babila on the corner of Corso Europa, coordinated by Fondazione Progetto Arca. At the end of August the Italian Red Cross should also be involved. The same associations will make doctors and nurses available for inoculations of the vaccine, which will be the single-dose Janssen, for medical history and pre- and post-vaccination checks. 

Informed consent will be collected - distributed in Italian, and also English, French, Arabic or Romanian, upon request - and pre-printed forms will be available for issuing the vaccination certificate. 

In the early evening of yesterday, a total of 18 doses were administered (6 for each station), reaching 36 doses today (12 for each station), and closing at the end of August having vaccinated around 200 people. In fact, there are many who, contacted in recent weeks by the Mobile Units, are already convinced to get vaccinated, in addition to those who have already been vaccinated in recent months, reached within the collective reception structures, in the day centers, in the canteens and public showers, in micro-communities and in Housing First and Housing Led accommodation. 

In fact, between June and July, in the first organized phase of vaccination of homeless people, around 2 thousand doses of vaccine (mostly Janssen and Pfizer) have already been administered overall, with which over 1.300 people have been vaccinated. To achieve the objective, the municipal administration has facilitated contacts between the Lombardy Region and the bodies managing the reception facilities, encouraged the creation of a census of potential vaccine recipients, disseminated information material on the type of vaccine used, and the consent forms informed and the medical history sheet and, among other things, made available to professional mediators. 

Now the last phase of the program begins, aimed at those who do not access services and who have difficulty moving from the street. The work of the mobile units is fundamental, both that already carried out, of motivating and convincing the people they usually meet on their evening rounds to vaccinate, and that which they are called upon to carry out of guiding them to the health stations. 

“The 'On the road' operation, thanks to the collaboration between the Municipality of Milan, Ats, the Lombardy Region and the many volunteer organizations that tirelessly intervene in the city, day and night and which I thank, is a concrete sign of the importance of networks and alliances that allow us to be stronger than we would be if we moved alone - intervenes the councilor for social and housing policies Gabriele Rabaiotti -. In large cities we risk having submerged and difficult to see situations, people who remain in the shadows and whom we struggle to reach. The protection and protection of women and men living on the streets require us to move and work together, without making distinctions and avoiding useless exploitation. Recognizing the problem and taking action to address and manage it is the way public institutions must operate. Pretending that it isn't there or thinking of solving it by moving it or even deleting it is totally irresponsible." 

The idea of ​​proceeding with a limited daily number of doses is motivated by the complexity of the operation, both from the point of view of the accompaniment, including the related information, verification and control activities, and from the technical point of view, of the correct conservation of the vaccine which requires special thermal containers (can be stored at 2-8 degrees).