Instead of summer, only eighty percent of the Italian population is scheduled to be vaccinated in the fall, according to the Romanian government’s new vaccination plan, unveiled by the Commissioner of the Extraordinary Epidemic, General Francesco Paolo Vigliolo, Saturday night.
Francesco Paulo Figliolo Taburnoc (Photo: EPA / Roberto Monaldo)
The epidemiologist responsible for the national vaccination campaign released a 24-page document containing operational guidelines for vaccination. The roadmap, drawn up jointly with the Ministry of Health, states that the first priority is “to return Italians to safety” in order to revitalize the country.
The only solution, as he read in the introduction, is to implement the vaccination campaign as soon as possible, which requires an adequate distribution of vaccines and an increase in the number of doses taken daily.
According to the vaccination program, the current dose of 170,000 per day will be increased to half a million per day.
According to current calculations, it is planned to reach 80 percent of the vaccination of the 60 million people by the fall. Previously, the deadline was summer, but due to delays in vaccine shipments, the schedule had to be changed.
7.9 million vaccine doses have arrived in Italy since the end of December, a number that is expected to double over the next three weeks. An additional 52 million doses of the vaccine are expected to be received by the end of June and another 82 million doses by the fall. By Saturday night, more than 6.5 million Italians had been vaccinated, of whom more than 1.9 million had already received the second dose.
One and a half percent of incoming vaccine shipments are due to be seized. In distribution, preference will be given to points of contact in the country where the spread of the novel coronavirus epidemic has reached a critical level. When necessary, mobile checkpoints would operate in cooperation with civil protection and the armed forces.
There are currently 1,733 vaccination points working, most of them in hospitals, but they want to double their numbers.
They plan to set up fire stations at workplaces, gyms, and schools, as well as to include commercial buildings for commercial chains and establishment buildings of the Italian Episcopal Conference. A vaccination center is opening in Rome in its largest barracks.
The cadre of vaccination centers will also be increased, with the participation of 44,000 general practitioners, 60,000 dentists and 23,000 graduate doctors, but they are also awaiting requests from sports doctors, professional doctors and pharmacists.
In his first parliamentary speech in February, Prime Minister Mario Draghi promised to speed up vaccination. On March 1, he replaced the former Epidemiological Commissioner, who had been replaced by General Francesco Paulo Figlolo, the logistical commander of the ground forces. A comprehensive vaccination program could start after Easter, right after the national lockdown, which will take effect on March 15th.
