Covid-19: Italy to get up to 80 million vaccine doses by end of this year

Rome: Italy is to get around 50 million doses of covid-19 vaccines in the second quarter of this year, reaching a total of up to 80 million in the third, announced health minister Roberto Speranza Thursday.

Speranza, a guest of television programme Accordi e Disaccordi, said that Italy is about to surpass six million doses administered under its covid-19 vaccination campaign, reports Italian news agency ANSA.

The minister also said that contagion rates among Italy’s health workers, who were the first people to get the vaccine, has “collapsed,” and there were positive signs of a similar fall of infections in those aged over 80.

Asked about the restrictive measures the Italian government is expected to introduce tomorrow, Speranza said: “I would like to reopen everything but the numbers [of covid-19 cases] are growing, it is right that scientists ask for more rigorous measures due to the presence of the (virus) variants. The next few weeks will not be easy.”