One of the biggest Chinese communities in Italy says it’s being treated unfairly with the mandatory COVID19 Green Pass.
They feel penalized and have demanded authorities for an adaptable interpretation of the law.
The “Green Pass” has triggered protests in many cities in Italy since the government enforced it in workplaces on October 15.
The recent complaints came from a Chinese community with a 25,000-population in the Tuscan city of Prato. The community grew up near the local textile industry.
Several people in China have taken the Sinovac, a Chinese vaccine, which does not qualify for the Green Pass.
Luca Zhou Long, head of Prato’s Chinese community, wrote a letter to Tuscany’s President Eugenio Giani.
He asked him to resolve “the bureaucratic hurdle,” which prevents many Chinese workers from working.
“It is clear that this situation involves considerable difficulties for production,” Long wrote.
“This is not due to a lack of vaccination, but due to the impossibility to obtain the certificate,” he added.
Italy recognizes only four vaccines for the Green Pass, which are Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson&Johnson and AstraZeneca.
PM Mario Draghi has expressed skepticism over the Chinese vaccine, Sinovac.
The Chinese vaccine has proved to be inadequate, he said in June.
Both the Italian government and the Tuscan authorities have not responded to Long’s letter yet.
However, Prato’s community may get hope from a similar case in San Marino, a small landlocked republic near northern Italy.
Unlike Italy, San Marino allowed the use of the Russian vaccine, Sputnik.
Rome then ruled that Sputnik-vaccinated residents of San Marino who work in Italy don’t have to carry a Green Pass until December 31.
