The Roma people in the northern Croatian region of Medjimurje are mostly not interested in getting vaccinated against COVID-19, Roma minority MP Veljko Kajtazi said on Wednesday.

Kajtazi was accompanying Economy Minister Tomislav Coric at a meeting with Pribislavec Mayor Matija Ladic, which focused on an illegal landfill in that Medjimurje municipality as well as on the topic of inoculation of the Roma population.

Asked whether it was true that few Roma had been inoculated, Kajtazi said that based on a survey, as many as 85 percent had initially been interested in inoculation, blaming a subsequent drop in interest on fake news about vaccination circulating on social media.

Kajtazi said that from the start of the pandemic he and his associates had been informing the Roma community of epidemiological measures and providing it with the necessary protective equipment.

He thanked the national COVID-19 response team for helping him prevent the spread of coronavirus in Roma settlements.

“With good organisation and preparations, we have reduced the fatality rate in the Roma community,” Kajtazi said, adding that he advocated a special vaccination vehicle that would visit Roma settlements and make vaccination more accessible.

Minister Coric added that the Roma are Croatian citizens and that there is no need to single out anyone.

“There is no separate vaccination rate for the Roma community. Everyone needs to be vaccinated and I am appealing for that. There is no need to focus on the Roma in particular,” concluded Coric.