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VACCINE

Sicilian mayor accused of vaccine queue-jumping resigns

The mayor of Corleone, Sicily, said on Sunday he was stepping down after coming under fire for jumping the queue for coronavirus vaccinations.

Published: 7 March 2021 14:49 CET
Sicilian mayor accused of vaccine queue-jumping resigns
Corleone, a small town in the province of Palermo in Sicily. Photo: Fabrizio Villa/AFP

“I spent a sleepless night thinking about this decision and I concluded that it is right for me to resign,” Nicolo Nicolosi, 78, told the ANSA news agency.

Nicolosi, mayor of Corleone, a small town near Palermo, said he was quitting “even if I insist that I made the right choice in getting vaccines for me and city councillors.”

On Saturday, press reports said police were investigating the mayor and other members of the municipal government, and had reported the case to local prosecutors.

The city of Corleone – otherwise famous for inspiring the name of the Mafia boss from “The Godfather” franchise – confirmed on its Facebook page that Nicolosi got two vaccine doses in January.

READ ALSO: Who is in Italy’s Covid-19 vaccine priority groups?

Photo: Fabrizio Villa/AFP

Italy started its vaccination campaign in late December, reserving the first doses for health workers and people over 80.

Like in the rest of Europe, supply shortages have caused delays.

Nicolosi argued that local politicians like him also needed immediate protection against the virus, as frontline workers serving their local communities.

His vaccination was “a conscious choice made to stave off the possibility that any contact with the virus might have forced him to abandon his post on the trenches,” the city of Corleone said on Facebook.

Nicola Morra, a senator from the ruling Five Star Movement and head of the upper chamber’s anti-mafia committee, said Nicolosi was not the only local politician who abused the system.

“Unfortunately we are hearing of several situations in which the rule of law was trampled on,” Morra wrote on Facebook, urging other queue jumpers to follow the example of stepping down.

READ ALSO:Italy blocks export of 250,000 AstraZeneca vaccine doses to Australia

Italy has so far injected 5.3 million doses of the vaccine and fully vaccinated 1.6 million people, out of a population of 60 million, health ministry data showed Sunday.

New Prime Minister Mario Draghi, sworn in last month, has made it a priority to accelerate vaccine distribution, to contain a pandemic that has killed almost 100,000 people nationwide.

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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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