"We are at war and we must return to life but we need a climate of extraordinary mobilization. We will perhaps have thousands of doctors and young doctors to experience this battle first hand to win."
Campania Regional President Vincenzo De Luca made this statement during his usual Friday Facebook livestream. As usual, the Governor outlined what has been done and what is planned, primarily in the fight against COVID and the vaccination campaign. He discussed the relationship with the Russians for the purchase of Sputnik doses, funding for Southern Italy, Campania, jobs, and regional competitions.
DE LUCA: AT CURRENT RATES HERD IMMUNITY IN 3 YEARS
"At the current rate, it will take us 3 years to reach herd immunity in Italy. To vaccinate the Italian population, 90 million doses are needed, but we are very late. We have sent a request to the new government commissioner, General Figliuolo, to restore equity in the distribution of vaccines by April." This was announced by the president of the Campania Region, Vincenzo De Luca. "The commissioner introduced the criterion of 1 vaccine for each person, and we said that it is fine, it is a step forward - adds De Luca - on the condition that we recover what we have not had in the three months behind us".
De Luca: 'chaos created by Rome on vaccine administration'
The confusion over the priority of the administration "was determined by the central state and not by the Regions". De Luca explained. And then he added: "If there is a criticism to be made, the individual regions must be named". De Luca also pointed the finger "at the chaos of communication and then they argue with the Regions. But thank the Lord that the Regions have worked. Name names otherwise only a fuss will be raised. I would suggest to our interlocutors in Rome to no longer give numbers to our fellow citizens, we have a number in front of us, 90 million doses, if we want to vaccinate the vaccinatable population. And with respect to this number we are significantly behind, both us and Europe".
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“If we have additional vaccines we will proceed with vaccination by 'economic sectors'”. For De Luca the vaccination campaign in Campania it should be completed by next autumn, taking into account that 9 million doses should be administered in the Region.
De Luca: 'We need Sputnik and we have ordered it'
“After weeks of negotiations and discussions, we have signed a supply contract with the company that produces the Sputnik vaccine”. Confirmation of the agreement reached with Human Vaccine, the Russian fund that manages the marketing of the Sputnik V vaccine, comes from the President of the Campania Region, Vincenzo De Luca. “It is a vaccine that is not included among those treated by the EU and Italy – he specifies – it is an additional vaccine, which we intended to reserve precisely to have the vaccines necessary to immunize 4,5 million fellow citizens with the double dose”.
De Luca is keen to point out that this contract stipulated by the Region, through So.Re.Sa., will become operational immediately after the vaccine is approved by the EMA or AIFA. “We are moving along the line indicated by Draghi,” he underlines, “if we do not have the answers we need from the EU and the companies currently contracted, we will also go ahead alone for the additional part that we can obtain.” De Luca hopes that this vaccine can open a path for the entire country. “This is an experiment at the service of Italy, if things go well. Since we are investing resources from the Region for an additional vaccine, we will work to cover the needs of our fellow citizens. Then we will make any additional quantity of vaccines that we receive from the manufacturer available to all Italian citizens,” he explains.
DE LUCA: 'WE WILL GIVE MORE SPUTNIK DOSES TO THE REST OF THE COUNTRY'
"We intend to move in a context of national solidarity and mutual aid, even if we are the ones making the investment. If we were to have significant availability beyond the coverage of our fellow citizens, we will give everything we can to all our fellow citizens who will need to have additional doses of vaccine". De Luca spoke of "a choice of civilization, of national solidarity but also a way to prepare ourselves. We cannot stay in a situation in which we are subject to blackmail, that's what they call it, by other manufacturing companies. It is not possible, we must be able to plan vaccination campaigns with certainty".
De Luca: 'Goal to complete vaccination campaign by autumn'
“Campania’s goal is to complete the immunization of the Campania population by this fall. President De Luca reiterated. And he explained: “This means that we must administer 60 vaccines every day, which means 1,8 million administrations per month. In three months we should be able to administer between 5,3 and 5,6 million. With the two administrations, we must administer more than 9 million”. But to date, he clarifies, “we do not have the quantities necessary to achieve this goal”. The 'governor' reiterates that the vaccination campaign continues by age groups, but “if we have vaccines available, we will proceed by economic sectors, with particular attention to tourism”.
DE LUCA: 'VACCINATE THE POPULATION OF TOURIST PLACES BEFORE THE SUMMER'
De Luca points out that, if we could vaccinate the entire population of particularly attractive places such as Ischia, Capri, Cilento, the Amalfi Coast or Procida, the capital of culture in 2022, "we could find a balance between health needs and economic-social needs". He finally assures that special attention will also be given to other productive sectors, in particular to "large factories in industrial areas".
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