Abstract

Previous findings indicate that the COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately affects people from socioeconomically disadvantaged populations. However, there is insufficient current data to provide reliable evidence. For this reason, a representative survey is being conducted among participants of the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) on issues related to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in cooperation with the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), the Research Center of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF-FZ), and the Robert Koch Institute (RKI). To provide particular insights into the specific effects for people with a migration and refugee background, the IAB-SOEP migration sample and the IAB-BAMF-SOEP refugee sample are part of the study population. Test kits for testing for antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 pathogen and a short questionnaire are sent to the study participants. This will be used to generate representative data on immunity to the corona virus. By combining these with the survey information collected as well as the longitudinal data collected as part of the SOEP-Core study, insightful findings can be obtained. Research questions include the association of socioeconomic factors with risk of infection, differences in vaccination willingness and vaccination rates, barriers to accessing the health care system, and long-term symptoms of SARS-CoV-2 infection (Long-COVID) as well as possible effects of these on employment outcomes.