Vaccine plan: at home with the same rules in all regions

The turning point will not come before April. In March, seven million vaccine doses are expected, half of them from AstraZeneca. From April, however, after the approval which should be next week, there will also be Johnson & Johnson and the doses available will be 30 million. From Easter onwards Italy must be ready for mass administration. The path chosen by the new commissioner, General Figliuolo, is direct: vaccinations must be taken where it is most difficult to reach and use all the places, means and personnel possible.

In the field there will be not only the regions with their personnel, but also defense and civil protection personnel. possible. The goal is to get to 6-700 thousand administrations per day, four times the current ones.

For cities and larger centers there are spaces available, from sports halls to gyms, through trade fairs and auditoriums (the Cloud in Rome is an example), but also barracks. These are joined by the studies of general practitioners. In smaller centers such structures are lacking and then the hypothesis is that of an arrival of the vaccine almost a address. Mobile units should be created, one for every 20-40,000 inhabitants, creating a vaccination center that goes from municipality to municipality. A similar thing has already been done in Lombardy in Viggiù. A vaccination agreement is also being worked on in companies and production sites.

It would be the forces of the Civil Protection to take action for the so-called last mile, the arrival where vaccinations are really done, after that the army will have brought the vials to the different regions, with a redistribution of the vials based on the resident population. In addition there would be, for the administrations, also the trainees with whom an agreement is being worked on.

Counting on the single dose of Johnson & Johnson and the use, for now only required, of AstraZeneca also for the over 65s, waiting times should be shortened and also expand the categories to whom the vaccine is being administered. The indication has already arrived to use 30% of the doses set aside so far for boosters and to create a solidarity fund, with 2% of doses, to be provided for vaccination in areas with a high number of cases.

Another aim is to reduce the disparity in distribution between regions. National uniformity is needed, while now there are those who have vaccinated the elderly and those who have focused on law enforcement and teachers. All very slowly, however, seen only one in three, among the doses of AstraZeneca available, were administered. Minister Gelmini said that the government will identify common priority criteria by age and category, “avoiding that the regions proceed in random order in identifying, for example, workers in essential services. Disabled people and their families, caregivers and operators of foster homes must be immediately vaccinated. And it is necessary to accelerate with the teachers, who must be vaccinated in the municipality where they work ».