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HEALTH

Covid-19: Italy threatens legal action over Pfizer vaccine delay

Italy is revising its vaccination plan this week and has threatened to take legal action against vaccine manufacturer Pfizer over a supply delay.

Published: 21 January 2021 08:35 CET
Covid-19: Italy threatens legal action over Pfizer vaccine delay
Photo: Filippo Monteforte/AFP

The Italian government is revising its national plan for the distribution of Covid-19 vaccines due to the delay in supplies across Europe, Italy's Ansa news agency reports.

READ ALSO: Italian regions pause new Covid vaccinations after Pfizer supply delay

With fewer vaccines than expected to be available in the coming weeks, Italian ministers are meeting to review national distribution plans in order to ensure all regions can administer second doses to those who have had the first.

The unexpected shortage means most regional health authorities have now paused giving new first doses of the vaccine.

Regional Affairs Minister Francesco Boccia on Wednesday confirmed that the government was considering legal action against pharmaceuticals giant Pfizer over the delay, and called on Italy's regional health authorities to show “solidarity” to ensure no part of the country runs out of vaccines.

READ ALSO: 

“Protecting the health of Italian citizens is not negotiable,” Domenico Arcuri, the special commissioner for the pandemic, said in a statement late Tuesday.

He had called a meeting with ministers and regional leaders to consider how to protect the health of Italy's population “in all civil and criminal venues where possible”, he said.
 
 
“It was unanimously decided that these actions will be taken starting in the next few days.”
 
Pfizer/BioNTech's vaccine was approved for use in the European Union in late December and has been quickly rolled out across European countries.
 
Italy began administering the Pfizer vaccine, to health workers and elderly care home residents first, on December 27th, the start of the European vaccine roll-out.

But just as Italy began distributing the second doses three weeks later, from January 17th., the vaccination campaign in Italy and elsewhere in Europe was hit by a temporary reduction in supplies of the vaccine by Pfizer.

Photo: AFP

Pfizer said last Friday it would delay shipments of vaccinations over the next three to four weeks due to works at its key processing plan in Belgium, which it says are needed to increase producton capacity.
 
The following day, in a joint statement with German vaccine partner BioNTech, the US drugmaker said it had a plan to limit delays of deliveries to one week.
 
Arcuri said that 29 percent of promised doses were not delivered this week.
 
“The vaccination campaign cannot be slowed down, even less so for the administration of the second doses for the many who have already been given the first.”

The vaccine is not yet available to the general population in Italy.

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BREXIT

‘We are desperate’: Why the UK must help Britons with Italian healthcare charges

A 74-year-old British woman has explained the "frustration and fear" Britons in Italy are facing when trying to access healthcare and appealed to the UK government for help.

Published: 11 April 2024 09:53 CEST
'We are desperate': Why the UK must help Britons with Italian healthcare charges

Pat Eggleton, a teacher and writer from the UK, appealed to the UK’s Foreign Secretary David Cameron in the letter sent April 9th about the “desperate” situation faced by UK citizens entitled to free healthcare in Italy – but unable to access it.

British nationals residing in Italy before Brexit, and covered by the Withdrawal Agreement (WA), are in many cases being told by Italian health authorities that they must pay steep new fees at a minimum of €2,000 a year – even though they are exempt from paying at all.

READ ALSO: ‘Life or death situation’: Brits facing high Italian healthcare costs amid rule change uncertainty

In her open letter seen by The Local, Ms. Eggleton, who has lived in Italy since 2005, highlighted that the current minimum is a huge jump from the previous €387, and said that the sum was “difficult, or even impossible, for some to find when there had been no prior notification and there is no option to pay in instalments.”

“A great deal of undeserved worry, frustration and even fear has ensued,” she wrote.

“Some of our group have serious, ongoing health conditions. All we require is for one sentence from the Italian government confirming that Withdrawal Agreement beneficiaries do not have to pay for healthcare access to be circulated to all regional health authorities.

“We implore you to act before this becomes even more serious. As someone put it, “This is a matter not only of money, but of health.” 

Ms Eggleton’s letter came exactly one month after the British government confirmed that all WA agreement beneficiaries are exempt from paying the €2,000 fee, provided they were living in Italy before January 1st 2021.

But there were no details available at the time from the Italian government setting out how the rules would be implemented or communicated to local health authorities around Italy.

Since then, there has been no further information released by the Italian government on any official platform. 

One Withdrawal Agreement beneficiary, Graham Beresford, told The Local last week how he was having trouble accessing healthcare, even though he has a right to it.

Mr. Beresford suffers from blood cancer and needs access to the Italian healthcare system to obtain his medication. 

“Every time I go to my ASL (local health unit) office, I always feel like I’m dismissed,” Graham said. “I told the ASL worker I need medication for my cancer and she replied lots of people come in here with sob stories.

“There genuinely seems to be no compassion whatsoever.”

The Local has written to the Italian health ministry for comment.

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