Slow Covid vaccinations in Italy and beyond: what’s wrong?

Italy, like much of the world, is doing few vaccinations. The delay is common and the reasons are the same on all sides mainly due to the lack of organization. Most regions defend themselves by saying that this is the real starting week.

But, once the holiday problem, linked to the days, has been overcome holidays and cause of controversy, however, the others remain. The shortage of material, in particular the absence of the syringes necessary for correct administration, remains and remains even the largest staff problem. There is not enough for the administration and the nurses, 15 thousand, recruited with the notice of the extraordinary commissioner Arcuri should not arrive before February.

Compared to the doses delivered so far, a quarter of the possible vaccinations have been made: as of December 3 there were 114,349 vaccinations, out of 469,950 doses arrived, but it must be taken into account that 30% is still set aside for second administrations in case subsequent deliveries are late. The vaccinated in January are doctors and residents of the RSA, from March it will be the turn of the elderly who live at home, but the times and methods are not yet clear.

Then there is thehuge difference from region to region and the consequent difficulty in amalgamating the data. Lazio is ahead of everyone, Sardinia doesn’t start before January 7th. Emilia-Romagna has given the first dose to 8,000 people, but plans to do 50,000 a week from now on. Lombardy now declares 6,000 vaccinations per day in the 65 regional hubs. There are just two vaccination points in the province of Trento which, however, is ahead of others in administration. Liguria aims for 2000 vaccinations per day.

In March i points of administration they should go from just under 300 to 1500, with greater coverage of the territory not only with the new primrose structures, but also with pharmacies, gyms and general practitioners. Some regions have already developed an app for booking, but not all have done so and a national registry for tracking is planned. All hypotheses that for now clash with the biggest problem: the lack of staff.

The delay in vaccinations is not only an Italian issue. There Germany it is in the lead in Europe for the number of administrations, over 165 thousand, but with lower numbers than expected, problems in maintaining the cold chain and a shortage of vials which led to the draw for vaccinated people in nursing homes.

The France he had a few hundred vaccinations in 5 days. In the world there are 12 million vaccinated, 4.5 in China and almost as many in the US, which however aimed to have 20 million by 2020. Israel has exceeded one million and similar numbers are in Great Britain where vaccinations started earlier than in the EU and where the vaccine from AstraZeneca and Oxford has already been approved.

The failure to approve this vaccine in Europe risks lengthening the time despite the reassurances that also come from the Italian government. Undersecretary for Health Zampa explained to Corriere della Sera that it is evaluated the possibility of evening, night and holiday shifts of administration to allow those who leave work to use those hours. “Family doctors will certainly have to cooperate if vaccines are available that can be stored in the fridge. In the meantime, let’s inoculate all available doses… There is a table to be respected and that table indicates that by April we should have immunized 10-13 million people ».