Italian health minister says mandatory vaccination is on the table

In the coming weeks, the Italian government will look into the possibility of making vaccination obligatory across the country, Italian Health Minister Roberto Speranza told Corriere Della Sera in an interview on Sunday.

The minister said waiting for the vaccines’ full approval by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) could even be bypassed as vaccines are already safe, noting that vaccines were already made mandatory for healthcare workers.

“Obligation is not an already determined and certain choice, but a tool that we have and, if necessary, it will be implemented without fear,” said Speranza.

“The virus still exists, it is strong and spreading. Either we strengthen the vaccination campaign again, or we are forced to imagine that, at some point, we will have to use past measures,” said Speranza, adding that the most important thing is to avoid deaths and not have to resort to new closures.

Referring to the G20 Health Ministers Meeting in Rome which kicked off Sunday, he expressed his hope that it will yield a “Pact of Rome to vaccinate the inhabitants of the whole world.”

“The richest and strongest countries undertake to build a vaccination campaign extended to all nations,” the minister said, adding that getting out from the pandemic will not happen before 2023 and will “depend on our ability to vaccinate all the countries in the world.”

(Daniele Lettig | EURACTIV.it)