A number of members have enquired about the possibility of receiving the Covid-19 vaccination in Italy. FFOA has been in discussions with FAO, WFP and IFAD on this matter. FAO has been designated by the UN Secretary General as the responsible Agency to liaise with the Government of Italy to ensure vaccination of UN staff, dependents and retirees following the Government’s priority programme for vaccinating its population.
The national vaccination programme is phased as indicated below and its timing and scheduling is dependent on Italy receiving adequate vaccine supplies; three vaccines have been approved- Pfizer-bioNtech, Moderna and recently Astra-Zeneca/Oxford with the latter presently approved in Italy for those 18-55 years only.
The UN has recently been provided 180 doses for front line staff ( IMO, UNHCR etc) and FAO has received 15 of these doses. Depending on vaccine supplies it is envisaged that FAO and perhaps the other RBAs will establish a vaccination hub to vaccinate staff and dependents falling in the various priority groups. Retirees over 80 are in Priority 3 and will be vaccinated in Government facilities as of 8th February; those from 60-79 are in Priority 4 which will likely be vaccinated in late March/April.
Some members in the Priority 3 group in Lazio have already booked and received appointments using the Lazio Salute website (salutelazio.it) which only requires the applicant/s to have a Codice Fiscale to book an appointment.
FFOA will continue monitoring the situation and will inform members of any developments in procedures. Should an RBA vaccination hub eventually be established, access procedures will be communicated. In the meantime, members can, if they wish, try and book vaccination appointments on their region’s health website e.g. salutelazio.it when they qualify according to their age group.
Below is some information we have found on “The Local “ Italy website which provides an insight to the latest developments;
Who is entitled to be vaccinated in Italy?
Vaccination is expected to be made available for free to all residents of Italy, including those who are not registered with the Italian national health service (SSN), as is the case for all other mandatory or recommended vaccines.
Health Undersecretary Sandra Zampa told Italian media on January 27th that, in order to achieve "herd immunity", the country needs to vaccinate 70 percent of "Italian citizens and foreigners who live in our country, and who have the same right to protection.
Italy is in 'phase one' of its vaccination campaign, which began with the first deliveries of doses on December 27th and the first injections on December 31st, 2020.
According to Italy's national vaccination strategy, this phase aims to vaccinate 5 percent of the total population and will target three groups, in order of priority:
Phase Two (taking percentage of total population vaccinated to 15 percent):
Phase Three (50 percent of population vaccinated):
Phase Four (90 percent of population vaccinated):
But when exactly these groups become eligible depends on how quickly new vaccines are approved, and how many doses arrive and when
The first batch of 249,600 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine are due to arrive in Italy on Saturday, February 6th. and will be offered to essential workers outside the health sector, the Italian government has confirmed.
Under a revised vaccination schedule, the first AstraZeneca doses will be offered to teachers, lecturers and other staff in schools and universities, as well as members of the armed forces, police, firefighters, prison staff and prisoners, other key workers and people living in religious or other shared communities who are under 55.
Meanwhile new doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, which have been administered to some 2 million people in Italy to date, will be allocated to over-55s and people with pre-existing health problems.
Under the new plan, Italy will start vaccinating over-80s, over-55s and key workers all at the same time, meaning that some 24 million people in Italy will become eligible to join the queue for a jab – though when they actually get one will depend on supplies.
Previously, no one under 80 was supposed to get the shot until all over-80s – some 4.4 million people – had been vaccinated, along with the roughly 2 million health workers and nursing home staff and residents who were first in line.
Under the revised vaccination plan, Italy's new targets are to administer some 2 million doses in February – the same number delivered in the first five weeks of the programme so far – rising to 4 million in March and 8 million in April.
Keep safe and well and be patient.