Stretch to 42 days for the recalls of Pfizer and Moderna to immunize more people; coverage of all school staff by the summer to reopen in attendance in September; mass vaccination of the smaller islands, starting from those with fewer health facilities, to safeguard the tourist season. It is based on these three pillars General Figliuolo's new strategy on vaccines. Once the cruising speed of about half a million doses per day has finally been reached, the time has come for a further change of pace. In Italy today there are 22 million people vaccinated, 35 million are still missing. Above all, an uncovered share of over 70s and 80s persists: 3,3 million people out of 10,5 million aged between 70 and 89. In May, priority will still be given to the elderly and frail, but from June we will return headlong to the teaching staff, in view of the school year which starts in September: bookings start today, Thursday 6 May, and 7 million new AstraZeneca doses will arrive by June, of which 1,5 million precisely for recalls from school staff.
VACCINES AND SCHOOL
The stated goal is to close by the summer, as Education Minister Patrizio Bianchi has already said that in September all students are expected to return to class. To date 1,12 million teachers have received at least the first dose, but only 38.000 (2,5%) have also received the second, and above all they are almost 390 thousand teachers who are still waiting for the first dose. Also in this case the differences between Regions are very strong: regions such as Lombardy, Lazio, Emilia, Veneto, Puglia itself are already advanced and will presumably be ready in September, while the situation in Liguria is almost desperate, where more than half of the not even the first dose of the vaccine has yet been administered. Behind also Sardinia and Sicily, in proportion. To give this further acceleration to the plan, the extraordinary commissioner Figliuolo is betting on two moves: obviously the arrival of new doses (yesterday 2,1 million from Pfizer arrived and today another 360 thousand from Moderna) and then the lengthening of the times for the recalls. Along the lines of what was done with the AstraZeneca serum, following the "English" method, the times for the second dose of Pfizer double from 21 to 42 days, and also increase to 42 days for Moderna, from the 28 days of the first indications.
VACCINES AND MINOR ISLANDS
The choice was born from an opinion of the Scientific Technical Committee, which considers "the protection already high after the first dose", and therefore gave the go-ahead to administer the available doses to other subjects in the meantime. With this roadmap and net of the inevitable differences between Regions, it will also be possible to save summer tourism. Prime Minister Mario Draghi has already launched the greenpass – from mid-May in Italy and a month later for European travelers – but now the aim is also to proceed with the mass vaccination for the smaller islands. Some, such as Procida, have already been declared Covid Free, generating controversy due to excessive speed (perhaps to the detriment of other categories), but now the topic is no longer a taboo: in the coming weeks, with the support of the Defense and Civil Protection , a campaign will be organized following the "priority criterion, starting from the islands that are most fragile in terms of epidemiological risk and lack of adequate health facilities". It starts on May 7th with the island of Capraia in Tuscany and Salina of the Aeolian archipelago in Sicily. Given the logistical difficulties, a lot is being focused on J&J's single-dose vaccine.
