“How was your life during the last period since corona hit Europe?” “Were you vaccinated and do you want to be vaccinated? Do you think we should make vaccination an obligation for certain professions? Do you want to get the booster shot?”
A second series of citizens’ summits on the experiences during corona time is taking place in September. It is worth noticing from the reactions of the citizens that most of them try to remain positive while they are losing motivation. As vaccination campaign is taking place in all European countries, the vaccination issue has become one of the focal topics of the event.
The citizen summit was originally created as a platform for citizens to get their voices heard, and now it attracts the attention from different levels: Dr. Norbert Schnitzler (head of Düren District Health Office) was present at the at the citizens’ event in Düren on 4 September, and Minister Antonios Antoniadis (Vice-Minister-President Minister of Health and Social Affairs, Regional Development and Housing) was present at the Eupen citizens’ summit of 18 September.
Some citizens could not join the digital event due to physical and other personal restrictions, but gladly shared their experiences in written form with the experts from EPECS (European Patients Empowerment for Customised Solutions). This illustrates that the underprivileged group that falls out of the policy concern requires special attention from the policy-makers.
The last citizens’ summit under this euPrevent COVID-19 project is to be organized on 25 September, for the citizens in Maastricht. If you are interested, please visit the website: https://euprevent.eu/summits-covid/.