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72,000 Italians have been vaccinated since the Covid vaccination campaign began a week ago. 15 percent of cans available in Italy were injected. Domenico Arcuri, the government commissioner responsible for the vaccination campaign, rejected the charge that too few Italians had been vaccinated compared to other EU countries. “Italy ranks second after Germany in terms of the number of people vaccinated,” Arcuri said, according to media reports. The government commissioner has been criticized for lack of medical personnel and injections. The center-right opposition parties accuse him of incompetence.
Medical unions reported that healthcare workers were exposed to heavy loads, not only had to take care of vaccines but also anti-Covid tests and were forced to long hours. Some hospitals have had to call on retired doctors to get them back to work or use volunteers. Even before the epidemic started, there was a shortage of health workers for vaccines in Italy, especially in southern Italy. In some regions there were staff shortages due to the Christmas holidays and the vaccines had arrived earlier than expected. Many hospitals did not plan to start vaccination until January 4, health authorities said.
In Lombardy, the region most affected by the coronavirus, the vaccination campaign begins on Monday. It starts with healthcare workers and nursing home patients. Up to 10,000 vaccinations per day should be performed. That number should then rise to 15,000 a day, reported the region’s health official, Giulio Gallera.
