Together, mother and son, waiting for an anti-Covid vaccine that does not arrive. In Lombardy of “vaccinating against the virus is very difficult” there are them too. Pavesi, residents in the city center, next to all the amenities but not that of being able to immunize. The mother is at the top of the list of emergencies, the son, who is also ill, has been immunized in recent days. But he wanted to be the latter.
Invalid and forgotten
Her name is Italia Spadaro: she is 81 years old and has been 100% disabled for fifteen years, forced into a wheelchair after a series of strokes. A clinical picture also complicated by cardiological and respiratory problems. Given the fragility, a person certainly attackable by Covid, therefore in principle among the first on the list for a vaccination. But no. She registered on February 16 at the pharmacy in her neighborhood, which promptly forwarded the report. And thanks have also come to her for joining the vaccination campaign. Except that from that moment there was only silence. And Italy is still waiting. Just in recent days she was informed by her doctor that the vaccine for her is not yet there and that – since she is not autonomous in reaching the vaccination center – there is not even the staff to treat her at home.
The exits on the gallery
There is a feeling of resignation in this over 80 year old forgotten by the system. For a year now, his only exits have been those on the balcony of his house to get some air. Nothing else. Mrs. Italia thinks of her son Francesco Mastrandrea, 59-year-old actor and storyteller from Pavia, her only point of reference. He too needed the vaccine urgently because he suffered from Crohn’s disease, an autoimmune disease. And he had queued up, he thought, after his mother. Instead they immunized him first, albeit after a long wait. And now he is in pain because he does not see a solution to his mother’s case.
Italia Spadaro has been a widow for six years. She and her husband Angelo are originally from Caltagirone and are part of those families who arrived in the North at the beginning of the Sixties with a suitcase full of hope. A life as a housewife, looking after the house and raising her son Francesco, who reciprocates by guaranteeing her affection and dedication for fifteen years, that is, since she was severely tested by a series of strokes.
I’m worried
Francesco Mastrandrea does not hide concern. “I am very afraid for her – she explains – Moreover, in January 2020, just before the chaos linked to Covid broke out, mom was in the hospital for two months for bilateral pneumonia. So, as soon as possible I registered her in the pharmacy for the vaccine: they told me that she can only be given Pfizer and not Astrazeneca due to the stroke she has suffered. The attending physician has already given me the consent form, we have vomited the files, but the vaccine for her is not there. is”.
For Signora Italia, that son is everything. And the gratitude shows in his eyes. “Fortunately he is there, even to use the computer and surf the Internet otherwise I would be lost – she emphasizes -. Even my friends must rely on their children and grandchildren. Of course, who can, because the others remain loneliness and fear. Us we have a lot of old people, we are barricaded in the house and we have turned on the TV all day. But we only listen to bad news. We are people who made war, but now it is perhaps worse, there is so much disappointment: that Italy will leave our nephews?”.
Double fear
Mastrandrea makes no secret of feeling divided by a double fear: “In my condition it would be a problem to get sick with Covid, for my mother and for me – he concludes -. Over the years I have acquired a very delicate balance system with Crohn’s disease, which is an anxiety-inducing pathology. I trust the doctors, even though I was somewhat afraid to get the vaccine because no one had explained to me what I would really risk. In the end I did it, especially thinking about my mother’s health. But now someone do it you too”.
.