Between 23 and 26 January 2021, the first doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine will arrive in Italy, announced Health Minister Roberto Speranza. Here are the first advances on how the vaccination plan will work
(photo: Paul Biris / Getty Images) On the morning of December 1, a meeting was held at Palazzo Chigi in which the Minister of Health Roberto Speranza explained to the group leaders of the parliamentary majority the need "not to make the third wave" of Covid-19 coincide "with the vaccination campaign". The first tranche of 3.4 million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in Italy will arrive "between 23 and 26 January" of 2021, according to the head of the health department - who will illustrate the roadmap to parliament today - and will be distributed " to the 300 points identified, which are directly the hospitals ". The Pfizer vaccine will in fact be subjected to the approval of the European Medicines Agency (Ema, the agency on medicines of the European Union) on December 29th.Starting from March 2021, moreover, they are expected in Italy other "202 million doses of vaccine". After a first phase in which vaccinations will concern the "categories most at risk", such as medical personnel and inpatients of hospitals and nursing homes (Rsa), mass vaccinations will be carried out using large public spaces such as gyms, open spaces and fairs. The vaccine will be administered first to those over 80, then to the 60-70 age group and gradually to the other age groups, up to the "essential workers" (including those in school).
Based on according to current knowledge, each dose of vaccine serum “needs a booster and we don't know the duration of immunity,” said Speranza. The distribution of the vaccine will be managed entirely at the state level, centrally and following medical and scientific advice, also involving the army.
Anticipating the lines of the National Plan for coronavirus vaccines, Speranza underlined the strategic importance of flexing the epidemiological curve: the goal is not to subject people to compulsory vaccination, but rather with persuasion and information, to achieve herd immunity in Italy with 40 million citizens. The government plan provides for the implementation of the network to monitor vaccinations, with an ad hoc information system connected to regional systems. In this way, there will be a double check, with vaccination vigilance and immunological surveillance.