Czech PM Babiš’s personal project, a mobile vaccination centre, seems to be a disaster, as it basically failed in Vítkov on Wednesday. Vítkov is a small town, but it is very significant for the Prime Minister as his political party gained 37% support in the last regional elections here. For the Czech political system, 37% is a lot. Thus, Andrej Babiš probably decided to reward the town by arriving with his new personal project, a mobile vaccination centre. While a few did show up to get vaccinated, there was almost no one from the Roma minority. This was presumably upsetting to the PM, who likely hoped to demonstrate his love for the Czech minorities by arriving to a town largely populated by Roma citizens, talking to them in front of the media and then vaccinating them. Especially when activists from the minority community celebrated his decision to go to the town on social media. Doing such a thing in this town would also be undoubtedly symbolic, since most Czechs remember its name in connection to one of the most violent hate crimes to happen in Czechia to this day. In 2009 a group of neo-Nazi thugs set fire to a family home with handmade throwables. The home was inhabited by a Roma family, and their 2 year-old daughter Natálka almost died there, and her face was scared by the fire for life. Nevertheless, the PM’s plan did not work, and the Roma community stays one of the least vaccinated groups of people in Vítkov, and in Czech Republic.
