A person receives a dose of the Moderna vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at the Music Auditorium in Rome, Italy, January 5, 2022. REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane
After gaining the go-ahead from European Union health institutions, Italy will shortly begin its push to give a second COVID-19 booster to everyone over 60. The health minister announced this on Monday.
The European suggestion, which was made on Monday in the midst of an uptick in infections and hospitalizations across Europe, was anticipated to help national governments to speed up vaccination campaigns, which had been sluggish recently.
Health Minister Roberto Speranza said the government had already given the go-ahead to Italy’s 20 regional administrations to start the second booster campaign, after the approval of national medicine agency AIFA.
“All the scientific evidence… shows that an extra dose of booster can greatly protect people, especially the frail and elderly, from hospitalisation,” Speranza told state broadcaster Rai.
Italy saw coronavirus cases rise in July. The number of daily infections last week surpassed 100,000 for the first time since February and hospital admissions are also seen increasing.