Vaccine case. While both Pfizer and AstraZeneca have reduced the doses destined for Italy and other European countries, with Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte having already announced lawsuits, now the problem arises of how to manage a vaccination campaign that seemed to have started very quickly but which will inevitably slow down. Indeed, at best, by the end of March we will have vaccinated 7 and a half million Italians, all doctors and social and health personnel, guests and operators of the RSA and the over 80s and perhaps the 75 year olds with frailty. But for sixty-year-olds, teachers, law enforcement, prisoners, categories that should have been vaccinated immediately after those mentioned, times are getting longer by who knows how much.
An objective therefore almost halved compared to what is foreseen in the strategic vaccination plan of the Ministry of Health, with the plan which at this point should be postponed by at least a couple of weeks, but probably more. And it should be remembered that the booster for the 1,3 million people already vaccinated must be ensured, in the correct terms, very few of whom have already received the second dose. So much so that not even the emergency commissioner Domenico Arcuri is ready to put his hand on the fire. Because – yesterday Boccia made it clear to the governors meeting together with the ministers of Health, Hope and Regional Affairs – “the pharmaceutical companies that have so heavily failed in relation to the contracts signed with the European Commission cannot be trusted”.
And therefore not even the actual number of doses that Pfizer and AstraZeneca ensure they will deliver to Italy within the first quarter of the year despite the hitches to the production plants in Belgium: just under 15 million in all, also considering the Modern American that up to so far it has kept its commitments, compared to the 28 million provided for in the plan, which fell to 20 before Christmas when AstraZeneca had already announced an initial reduction. Here are the official figures to date: in January, between Pfizer and Moderna, almost 2 million doses should arrive which in February should become 6,2 million by adding the first 3,36 million doses of AstraZeneca to the 650.000 million doses of Pfizer and the 2,31 of Moderna, which should start delivering on February 15 if, as hoped, the next week will get the green light from Ema and Aifa. Another 6,43 million doses are expected in March with AstraZeneca still on narrow gauge.
