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BUDGET

Budget: Italy sets aside €400m fund for vaccines and anti-Covid drugs

Italy's new draft budget proposal includes 400 million euros for the purchase of "anti SARS-COV-2 vaccines and drugs for the treatment of patients with COVID-19".

Published: 16 November 2020 09:32 CET
Updated: 16 November 2020 13:50 CET
Budget: Italy sets aside €400m fund for vaccines and anti-Covid drugs
Photo: Vincenzo Pinto/AFP

The special fund for the Ministry of Health is included in a draft of Italy's next budget, about to be scrutnised by parliament.

It is not known which drugs or vaccines the health ministry is planning to purchase.

Hopes for a vaccine were raised again on Monday as US firm Moderna announced a vaccine in development has proven 94 percent effective in trials.

READ ALSO: Covid-19 vaccine found to be '90 percent effective', says Germany-based biotech firm

The news came hot on the heels of an announcement last week that a 90% effective vaccine may soon be available from Germany-based BioNTech and its American partner Pfizer as it published the results of their first large-scale trials, which are still ongoing.

If the BioNTech vaccine is approved, Italy would receive up to 13.5% of the 200 million doses reserved by the European Union, equal to around 27.2 million doses – enough for 14 million people (double inoculation is needed).
 
 
Italy’s health minister said the news of a potential coronavirus vaccine was “encouraging”, but urged people to remain cautious and not to abandon safety measures.
 
Several other potential vaccines are in development around the world, including one being trialled in Italy, developed by Oxford University and the AstraZeneca pharmaceutical group.
 
READ ALSO: 
Italy's 2021 fiscal plan is described by local media as a “maxi” budget due to its size – it contains 248 measures and is worth more than 38 billion euros.

This figure may yet increase, as the plan is likely to be revised in the coming weeks after already facing long delays.

Other measures in the draft, which have not yet been confirmed, include a four-bilion-euro fund to support the businesses hit hardest by the coronavirus outbreak and the subsequent shutdowns. These are defined as having a “decrease in turnover of at least 30%”. 

It's not clear from the draft how exactly the further funding would be distributed.

The budget plan also includes tax breaks aimed getting more women back into work, and at encouraging more electronic payments.

A planned 25 percent tax increase on e-cigarettes has reportedly been scrapped.

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HEALTH

Covid-19 still causing 1,000 deaths a week in Europe, WHO warns

The World Health Organization's European office warned on Tuesday the risk of Covid-19 has not gone away, saying it was still responsible for nearly 1,000 deaths a week in the region. And the real figure may be much higher.

Published: 27 June 2023 13:27 CEST
Covid-19 still causing 1,000 deaths a week in Europe, WHO warns

The global health body on May 5 announced that the Covid-19 pandemic was no longer deemed a “global health emergency.”

“Whilst it may not be a global public health emergency, however, Covid-19 has not gone away,” WHO Regional Director for Europe Hans Kluge told reporters.

The WHO’s European region comprises 53 countries, including several in central Asia.

“Close to 1,000 new Covid-19 deaths continue to occur across the region every week, and this is an underestimate due to a drop in countries regularly reporting Covid-19 deaths to WHO,” Kluge added, and urged authorities to ensure vaccination coverage of at least 70 percent for vulnerable groups.

Kluge also said estimates showed that one in 30, or some 36 million people, in the region had experienced so called “long Covid” in the last three years, which “remains a complex condition we still know very little about.”

“Unless we develop comprehensive diagnostics and treatment for long Covid, we will never truly recover from the pandemic,” Kluge said, encouraging more research in the area which he called an under-recognised condition.

Most countries in Europe have dropped all Covid safety restrictions but some face mask rules remain in place in certain countries in places like hospitals.

Although Spain announced this week that face masks will no longer be required in certain healthcare settings, including hospitals and pharmacies, with a couple of exceptions.

Sweden will from July 1st remove some of its remaining Covid recommendations for the public, including advice to stay home and avoid close contact with others if you’re ill or have Covid symptoms.

The health body also urged vigilance in the face of a resurgence of mpox, having recorded 22 new cases across the region in May, and the health impact of heat waves.

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