Rome:
Prime Minister Mario Draghi sought Friday to reassure Italians more than the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine, which was suspended this week ahead of becoming declared secure, saying he would have it himself.
“I have not yet made a booking, but my age group is among those who are allowed to have the vaccine and yes, I will have the AstraZeneca,” the 73-year-old told a news conference, the day immediately after the EU medicines agency gave the jab the green light.
“My son had it the day before yesterday in England,” he added.
Italy’s medicines regulator suspended the use of AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccines on Monday following fears of a hyperlink to blood clots — in spite of the deteriorating wellness circumstance which saw most of the nation place into partial lockdown this week.
But administration of the jabs resumed on Friday afternoon immediately after the European Medicines Agency (EMA) on Thursday declared the vaccine “safe and effective”.
Draghi defended the suspension — which government sources recommended led to 200,000 fewer jabs this week — and stated that when it had slowed the vaccination campaign, “this slowdown has not been disastrous”.
He also recommended Italy could bypass the EU’s joint procurement tactic to purchase Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine — possibly even if the EMA does not approve it.
Asked what Italy would do if the EU regulator’s approval did not come swiftly, he stated: “If European coordination doesn’t work, especially in a matter like health, you have to be ready to go it alone.
“This is what (German Chancellor Angela) Merkel stated and this is what I say right here.”
Merkel said Friday that Germany will order the Sputnik vaccine if it is authorised for use in the European Union, adding that Berlin could secure supplies on its own if the bloc would not.
While she would prefer that orders were placed in bulk by the bloc, “if such an European order did not come about… then we need to go the German way”.
More than 104,000 folks with coronavirus have currently died in Italy because the pandemic swept across the nation just more than a year ago, according to official figures.
A fresh surge in infections brought on the government to shut schools, restaurants and shops in most of Italy on Monday, for at least 3 weeks.
Draghi, a former president of the European Central Bank who took more than at the head of a national unity government final month, says the only way out of the crisis is by means of the vaccination programme.
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