ROME. After Easter, the school reopens in the red zone until sixth grade. This was announced by Prime Minister Mario Draghi at a press conference, at the end of the control room at Palazzo Chigi: «The school – he explained – is a limited contagion point only in the presence of other restrictions. What is a source of contagion is everything that happens around the school, so the higher the school activity, the more the chances of contagion increase “. The slowdown on the hypothesis of swabs in schools is clear: “In some cases it will be possible to take the test” for the students “but to speak of global action seems excessive to me”.
No yellow areas
In the control room it was also decided that until 30 April there will be no restoration of the yellow areas, the less affected areas of the country will remain orange, with all the appropriate prohibitions.
Vaccines, the knots to untie
Speaking of vaccines, the prime minister explained that the European Commission has broadened the criteria for stopping exports. “The criterion enunciated by the EU is in part a modification of the previous criterion. Previously, the only requirement for a certain vaccine to stop exporting was a company not complying with the contract. Yesterday the Commission broadened the criterion by introducing the words proportionality and reciprocity “, he said, and then added that we should not place an emphasis on blocking the export of vaccines,” We will not blockade the United Kingdom “.
And moving his gaze further: “We will get out of it by producing vaccines, there are already four agreements, the first of which is with Pfizer-Biontech and for experiments”. The first results are expected in the autumn. On the use of the Russian Sputnik vaccine in Europe “no formal application has yet been submitted to the EMA, but it is undergoing a review and is not expected to be pronounced for three or four months”.
Italy, the premier recalled, “was the first to raise the issue of restrictions on exports, now unfortunately it is at everyone’s attention”. And on the contracts with the pharmaceutical companies he raised the alarm: «I reserve the right to examine the legal part of the latest contracts. I confirm what has been said: health, life and death are at stake, European coordination must be sought and if the solution is not seen, other paths must be sought. But I would be careful to make certain contracts ».
He is not afraid to point the index: “There is the impression that some pharmaceutical companies, I do not mention names, have sold the (same) doses two or three times”. The premier has not yet been vaccinated: “I’d like to do AstraZeneca, I’ve booked, I’m waiting for them to call me.”
Unvaccinated health personnel
“The Government intends to intervene, it is absolutely not good that unvaccinated operators are in contact with the sick or are sent to be in contact with the sick.” Mario Draghi does not use too many words to indicate the route that Palazzo Chigi has decided to follow to combat infections caused by ‘no vax’ health personnel. The clusters that have occurred in recent days in Liguria have accelerated the intervention process. “The Minister of Justice, Cartabia – assures the premier at a press conference – is preparing a provision in this regard”. Roberto Speranza shares the line, but is keen to emphasize that these are very limited percentages. “The rule is under our scrutiny, but we must recognize that the adhesion of health personnel” to vaccination “has been extraordinarily significant, we will intervene on a residual quota”, assures the Minister of Health. The hypothesis on which the Government is working is to provide for the obligation to carry out the anti Covid-19 vaccine exclusively for doctors and health personnel who work in the ward and come into direct contact with patients. The Presidency of the Council, via Arenula, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Labor operate on the provision. The text will be based on various rulings of the Constitutional Court (for example that of 2018) which have already sanctioned the constitutional legitimacy of the vaccination obligation (such as the one existing for children) for health personnel, who are already subjected to some vaccinations to operate. more mandatory than that of ordinary citizens. “A health worker should consider vaccination a right and duty,” admits the Director General of Prevention of the Ministry of Health Gianni Rezza. “You shouldn’t even come up with a mandatory law.”
Comparison with the Regions
As for the regional administration of administrations “there will be a meeting next week between the Regions and the central government, I’ll be there too. We must all work together, it is useless to place bans or threaten measures. The basic criterion is age. It goes on like this and it goes on well ».
“What I said to the Regions in parliament – he also explained – was a spontaneous reaction to the differences between the various regions. The Constitution gives the central government powers in the event of a pandemic. my reminder was also an appeal to collaborate, the reminder was intended to say that we must vaccinate the frail and the eighty and then go in order of age, I also said that the age criterion must return to being a priority. Because – he underlined – we see categories that have been vaccinated before and it is not clear why they are more exposed than those over eighty who are grandparents who stay with their grandchildren ». Ensures transparency: «From today on the presidency website anyone can access the overall numbers, region by region, age by age, category by category. Everything can be verified on the Presidency website ».