A plan to make the smaller islands Covid-free, with the main aim of saving tourism in the summer. On the model of what is happening in Greece, where the government has long ago launched a strategy to arrive in June with all the inhabitants of the smaller islands already vaccinated. The Minister of Tourism, Massimo Garavaglia, who has already aired this hypothesis a few days ago, confirmed: «We could do it too. The point is to create mechanisms for which it is simple to circulate ». It was the Messenger to reveal that the plan has already started: the mayors concerned received a note from the Joint Defense Operations Center in recent days which, on input from the extraordinary commissioner for the Covid emergency Francesco Figliuolo, initiated a “planning relating to the organizational preparation for the implementation of the vaccination campaign in favor of the population in the smaller islands ». However, this objective must be made compatible with the directive given at the press conference by Prime Minister Draghi: the priority is to push hard on vaccination of the elderly over 75.
The government’s plan for the smaller islands
The plan, which should be implemented from the end of April, should cover the islands that have an adequate medical facility and in all likelihood also an intensive care room, to which the Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine should be destined, to secure the population. and allow accommodation facilities to plan the season and reopen as soon as possible. Therefore, not only the Campania islands, such as Capri, Ischia and Procida, put on a preferential lane on the initiative of the Campania Region, are included, but also, among others, Ponza, Lipari, Pantelleria, Tremiti and Elba.
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Solinas and Musumeci: vaccinate immediately in Sardinia and Sicily
Not only. The governors of the larger islands, Sardinia and Sicily, also got in the way. And they asked the government to “have the courage” to go beyond the proposal to vaccinate only the smaller islands of the country, proceeding with mass immunization, accelerated, even in their territories. The goal is always to allow the recovery of one of the vital sectors for these regions: tourism. The presidents of the two regions, Christian Solinas and Nello Musumeci, in fact, ask Prime Minister Mario Draghi to “have the courage” to go beyond the proposed vaccination of the smaller islands only and aim to immunize the entire population of the two most large islands in the Mediterranean and «with a strong tourist vocation», which «can guarantee important numbers for the recovery of the national economy». The two governors propose to cover with regional resources the cost of the preferential purchase of the doses necessary for the total immunization of the respective populations.
De Luca: Capri and Ischia immunized by April
In Campania the governor Vincenzo De Luca has promoted a campaign for a carpet vaccination in the islands. “By April the goal is to immunize the islands of Capri, Ischia and Procida in order to protect the tourist season,” said the president of the Region, who is also aiming at a vaccination campaign “for hotel staff on the coast and in Naples”. The plan seems well advanced. “On 9 April we will finish vaccinations even for those over 70, we work to vaccinate all the inhabitants of Capri and Anacapri by the end of April” confirmed Marino Lembo, mayor of Capri (Naples).
Elba is a candidate to become a “Covid free island” from the end of May
Elba is also on the track. “We have a precise horizon and we hope that the goal can be achieved: vaccinating all the vaccinable population by the end of May to make the island of Elba safe for its inhabitants and tourists” declared the mayor of Portoferraio , Angelo Zini, president of the Conference of Elban mayors. The Elban population to be reached by vaccinations is about 20 thousand people, considering those who have already received the vaccine doses and minors who are currently excluded from the vaccination campaign.