The first quantity of doses is little more than symbolic, 9.750, but in the meantime they represent the turning point: the anti-Covid vaccine, the one produced by Pfizer-Biontech, has arrived in Italy, and therefore also in our country, as per the schedule, the vaccination campaign will start today, Sunday 27 December, simultaneously with the rest of Europe. Vax Day therefore starts as planned and the first beneficiaries will be doctors, nurses and health personnel.
The first vials were kept at Spallanzani in Rome, but the logistical hub of the vaccination campaign is the military airport of Pratica di Mare, on the Roman coast, which will be requested above all in the second phase, when between the end of January and the beginning of February the administration points in Italy will increase from 300 to 1500. Five planes will leave from Pratica di Mare (two C27Js of the Air Force 228 of the Army and a P-180 of the Navy) to reach the most distant destinations, while the remaining vaccines will reach destinations by land with an overall use of 60 motor vehicles and about 250 soldiers.
“We are starting to turn the page in a difficult year. The vaccine has been delivered. Vaccination will start on December 27 in the EU. European Vaccination Days are a touching moment of unity. Vaccination is the key to get out of the pandemica”, said EU President Ursula von der Leyen in a message addressed to European citizens.
The objective, starting as mentioned from the health personnel (the first ever will be a Spallanzani nurse) and then from the population groups most at risk, is to arrive in the spring to have vaccinated 10-15 million Italians. But the real turning point will come in September when the government expects to have vaccinated 42 million people, the threshold considered useful for having herd immunity before the reopening of schools. In February it will be the turn of the over 80s, in April the 70-year-olds provided that the authorization of vaccines by the EMA proceeds expeditiously. At the moment only Pfizer has been authorized, Moderna should arrive shortly, four other products will follow, including AstraZeneca. "Mass rejection is a residual hypothesis, if the problem arises we will see...", commented Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte in recent days, reiterating the Government's desire to do not impose mandatory vaccination.
The first doses are "only" less than 10.000, but the extraordinary emergency commissioner Domenico Arcuri said that "Pfizer assured that in the week more will arrive from December 28th 450 thousand doses, brought directly by the company to the 300 administration points chosen with the autonomous regions and provinces. There will be no preferential lanes, the turn will come for all Italians who want to get vaccinated ".
While Europe leaves on Sunday 27 December, the United States has already moved forward: overseas, where President-elect Joe Biden was also vaccinated on live TV, already one million people have received the serum, and the aim is to reach 20 million by the end of the year. After the health personnel, it is already the turn of the policemen, firefighters and teachers.
Updates
At 7 and 20 on Sunday morning the first three people in Italy were vaccinated. I am Professor Maria Rosaria Capobianchi, nurse Claudia Alivernini and social health worker Omar Altobelli. They were the first to receive the anti-Covid vaccine this morning at the Spallanzani National Institute of Infectious Diseases in Rome. "Today Italy wakes up", wrote Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on Twitter, relaunching the hashtag #Vaccineday. “This date will remain with us forever. Let's start with the health workers and the most fragile groups to then extend the possibility of achieving immunity and definitively defeating this virus to the entire population".
