Abstract
This chapter explores how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the health of migrants and refugees in Europe. In particular, it focuses on how the pandemic has affected migrants’ mental health and their access to vaccination and healthcare services. Throughout the pandemic, migrants were at higher risk of COVID19 infection and death, with a high rate of hesitancy to get vaccinated. Migrants are more likely to work in jobs that are at high risk of accidents and in sectors that are key for society, especially during the pandemic, such as transport and healthcare, among others. This fact, jointly with cultural barriers, socioeconomic disadvantages, and, in some cases, discrimination, has directly and indirectly deteriorated migrants’ health outcomes, or created new vulnerabilities in this population. European governments should make further effort on addressing these issues, by, for example, adopting new public health interventions to mitigate and prevent the negative consequences of COVID-19 on migrants.
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Acknowledgments
Responsible Section Editor: Sergio Scicchitano
The chapter has benefitted from valuable comments of the editors, anonymous referees, Stuart Reading and Madeleine Turner. Nicodemo receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council [grant number ES/T008415/1] and from the National Institute for Health Research Applied Research Collaboration Oxford and Thames Valley at Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust. The views expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NIHR. There is no conflict of interest.
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Madia, J.E., Nicodemo, C. (2022). Migration and Health During COVID-19 Period. In: Zimmermann, K.F. (eds) Handbook of Labor, Human Resources and Population Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57365-6_361-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57365-6_361-1
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