Yep, it’s been (and still is) a big mess.
Back in December we were being told that Italy’s vaccine rollout was coming for COVID. Those of us apart from essential workers (medical, law enforcement, teachers) and people with serious conditions, would be able to start queueing up for our vaccines now (March). Sadly, that’s not the case. We’d hoped with Draghi becoming our new PM that things would quickly fall in line and we’d be finally given clear information.
Why hasn’t that happened?
Italian bureaucracy is a frustrating knot that is difficult to untie, much less loosen.
I realize now that I was employing Pollyanna-style thinking to believe that Italy’s vaccine rollout would be an exception. Waking up every day and hoping for a cloud parting and some real momentum forward hasn’t paid off. So, I must surrender and wait.
Regional differences in bureaucracy are a particular hurdle.
Many of my buddies back in the U.S. have been frustrated about the vast inconsistencies of the country’s individual states. I’d venture to say that Italy’s regions take this to a new level. For Italy’s vaccine rollout, you’d think the directive would be simple to implement. But, take the following story about a failure-to-launch theme. When I read this (read the full article here), not giving into despair was a challenge.
“The vaccine rollout in Italy’s hardest-hit region has been badly hampered by faulty booking systems, media reported Monday, with at least one injection centre nearly empty at the weekend.”
—Agence France Presse
The vaccine doses were there, ready to be administered. But, people hadn’t been notified. They actually had to send out buses trying to round people up to make use of the available vaccines.
Then there are the “surprise” revelations in Italy’s vaccine rollout. My jaw dropped when I read this story, just minutes ago (read the full story here):
“ A stockpile of 29 million doses of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine that were found languishing in a facility in Italy became the new flashpoint on Wednesday in the conflict between the pharmaceutical company and the European Union…”
—
Who the heck knows what’s going on with the Astrazeneca vaccine?
This is incredibly important because it is one of the main (if not the main) vaccines being administered in the UK and the EU.
Just how effective is it? The company was saying Monday that it’s 79% effective against acquiring the virus and 100% effective against severe disease (similar to the J&J) vaccine.
“In the Phase 3 study involving more than 32,000 people, AstraZeneca found that its vaccine was 79% efficacious in protecting against symptoms of COVID-19. In the trial, the two-dose shot—developed by the British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical company in conjunction with Oxford University—was also 100% efficacious in protecting people from severe symptoms and hospitalization from the disease.”
—Alice Park, Time (read the full article here)
No sooner than this badly-needed dose of optimism about AstraZeneca came out when its methodology for crediting these results surfaced. The media attacked. I won’t go into the details, but I do wonder if there is a battle for the vaccine narrative going on and if companies are jockeying for dominance.
All I know is that if the AZ vaccine becomes available to me, I’ll be right there with my sleeve rolled up!
With Italy’s vaccine rollout in question, the regional color-coded restrictions keep us relatively stable.
There plenty of grumbling about this—and plenty of skeptics and defiant behavior. Just last week Milan went from orange restrictions (freedom to move about within the comune, shops open, restaurants and bar open for takeout only) back to stricter red restrictions (movement only allowed for essential activities within one’s comune and with a self-declaration form filled out and ready for the police if stopped, only essential stores (grocery, pharmacy) and service available. Restaurants open for takeout or delivery only). Anyway, the night before the color switch, streets in the center of Milan were packed for a “last hurrah.”
But, the restrictions have proven effective at knocking back the spread to more manageable numbers. So, until Italy’s vaccine rollout gathers steam, I believe it is our most efffective strategy for treading water.
Italy’s over-seventy crowd will be next up for making vaccine appointments at the end of March.
I’d like to say this with 100% certainty, but again this may be something happening with a different cadence in different regions. Here in Liguria (we’re an orange zone right now) my in-laws have been told they can phone in to secure a vaccine appointment starting next week. So, if we work down the ladder, my group will probably be sometime in May. Waiting, waiting, waiting. Always waiting.
And yet, I’m still hoping for a sudden surge and coordination that helps us finally turn the corner in a substantive way for Italy’s vaccine rollout.
Fingers crossed. Hands in prayer position. Whatever helps this along! Stay tuned.
I wish I had a magic wand…. stay strong, Jed. As always thank you for your honest posts.
Grazie mille, Angela, for being a steady source of encouragement and positive juju! xoxox
The Brit’s and Italy and others also had concerns that the AZ vaccine had problems with blood clotting. This information might be able to be checked on the CDC web site. I went there to read up on the ingredients of the vaccines.
Hi Tia, the news sure has been aflutter about the AZ vaccine. The latest in this article from National Geographic is that the efficacy is 76%, slightly lower than stated Monday, and still 100% effective against severe disease. As for blood clotting issues, I’ve read several sources that the amount of blood clotting issues occurring is less than the general population. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/regulators-declare-the-astrazeneca-vaccine-safe-heres-what-we-know
“If there was a strong association, a clear signal would immediately become very obvious,” says Edward Jones-Lopez, an infectious disease specialist with Keck Medicine of USC, who is one of the investigators in the ongoing clinical trials of the AstraZeneca vaccine in the U.S. “But it is only when you have millions of people—which is an order of magnitude here greater than in the clinical trials—that very rare side effects become apparent.”
Writing from Colorado, USA, we are disappointed at this news. We were married, at San Gimignano, March 20, 2017 (in a small “self-marriage,” on the steps of the Duomo). We love each other, and we love Italy!
With what I just read, it appears we will not be allowed to enter the country, this year. So sad.
We urge all people of Italy to be strong, and to be patient.
Kind regards,
Tom and Lisa Ritzdorf
Ciao Tom and Lisa! Patience certainly is a mental muscle I’m working to strengthen. I do think that, if the Italian government makes good on their goal to start vaccinating 500k people a day, within a couple of months we’ll see a more decided shift. Already there are flights being set up from Atlanta and JFK (Delta I think) that are “Covid test flights,” meaning that if a person has been vaccinated and can show a negative Covid test within 48 hours of departure, they can travel and land without quarantine. The question mark is whether a person must have an “essential” reason for travel. Currently, travel between regions is prohibited unless for essential reasons, so that could be another hurdle.
All that said, I believe Italy’s government is eager to rev up the country’s tourism asap. I’m hopeful that once we gain some clear, demonstrable momentum, by July we’ll be seeing things opening up more substantively.
Keep your fingers crossed! Jed
As always, I do appreciate your posts and comments. I write from the state of Washington in the US as an American citizen with elective residency in Italy where we have a home in the province of Sondrio in a little town where my grandmother was from. Of course we are watching with great interest as to when we can return because it’s now been well over a year that we have been able to get there. My current permesso di soggiorno expires on April 30 and I am anxiously awaiting to know whether or not I will be able to enter Italy after it has lapsed. If you are able to share any information in this regard for us ex-pats who are trying to get back to Italy post Covid, I would be most grateful. Thank you so much.
Hi Carmen, I wish I had a quick and easy answer for this. What I do know is that “essential travel” does include traveling to Italy if you have residency there (permesso AND carta d’identita). But, once it expires, I don’t know how the airlines will permit you to travel. The big question, not made terribly clear on the official site for immigration https://www.poliziadistato.it/ is what you can present to the airlines to allow you to fly. It might be different depending on whether you travel before or after your expiry date. There is a “write us” option on the menu on the site if you want to get clarity. You might also speak with the airline since surely this has been coming up.
Covid test flights into Milan are available. https://www.thelocal.it/20210311/italy-approves-covid-tested-flights-from-us-to-milan/
I’m sorry that I can’t provide a definite answer to your question, but hopefully, these resources can help somehow.
Best, Jed
I’m getting my first dose today.
Thanks make me happy, dear friend! Stay safe and healthy so you can come and hang with us! I miss you terribly! xoxox
Not to excuse the mess in Italy, Jed, but a goodly measure of blame goes to the EU in general. While they wasted precious time several months ago trying to negotiate the prices down, the U.K. and U.S. simply offered market rates and quickly bought up a good amount of the available stock. Its taken a while for production and distribution to catch up.
You’re absolutely right, Mark, that the EU bears much responsibility for laggard behavior in securing and purchasing the vaccines to be in line with the vision of a strategy to squelch the pandemic. That’s probably worthy of a post all by itself.