“From next week we will start vaccinating transplant patients. We will continue to secure human lives and the future,” said Lazio’s regional president Nicola Zingaretti on Facebook on Sunday.
In September, Italy plans to start with people like oncology and transplant patients, and then vaccinate people over the age of 80, residents of nursing homes and health workers. Italy has set itself the goal of vaccinating 80 percent of the population against the coronavirus by the end of September. Ten million of the 60 million Italians have not yet received a vaccination, according to health authorities.
Italy is now extending the mandatory vaccination for health workers. On Thursday, the Council of Ministers approved an ordinance that will introduce compulsory vaccinations for staff in retirement homes. The government announced that the measure also applies to external staff from the senior facilities, such as cleaners. It was decided to expand the so-called Green Pass for school canteen staff.
Italy had already introduced compulsory vaccination for health workers in May. The government of Prime Minister Mario Draghi is considering extending the Green Pass to civil servants. The Green Pass is a digital or paper certificate that shows whether someone has received a Covid-19 vaccination, has tested negative or has recently recovered from the disease.
The measure is controversial. Most recently there were violent protests against the corona policy across the country in Italy. Demonstrations against the Green Pass have been taking place in major cities on Saturdays for two months.
