The Veil of the COVID-19 Vaccination Certificates: Ignorance of Poverty, Injustice Towards the Poor

Abstract

Socioeconomic disadvantages are amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic all over the world. Public actions and omissions severely affect the poor, alongside their precarious living, health and working conditions. As we slowly prepare for the aftermath of the pandemic, thanks to the progression of the vaccination, especially in developed countries, certain measures taken in this context, more specifically the ‘vaccination certificates’, are likely particularly to affect the poor, who usually also belong to other vulnerable groups such as ethnic minorities or single parents, and could eventually constitute for them a state of permanent quarantine. In this contribution, I argue that COVID-19 vaccination certificates are a slippery slope towards exclusion and stigmatisation of the poor through a bureaucratic system based on privileges which raises important questions in light of the fundamental rights of the people who reside at society’s margins, struggling to conform to the ‘phantom of normalcy’.

Keywords: COVID-19, vaccination certificate, poverty, discrimination, human rights, stereotypes, inequalities