A medical train in Lombardy for -
Marilla Sicilia / Mondadori Portfo / SIPA
The vaccination campaign is turning into a "disaster" due to a faulty reservation system in Lombardy (north), the Italian region most affected by the coronavirus pandemic, local politicians admitted on Monday.
Lombardy was the epicenter of the outbreak 13 months ago and remains the region with the highest number of cases today.
It's "a disaster from the start," Crema mayor Stefania Bonaldi told La Repubblica newspaper.
In Cremona, the provincial capital near Crema, the vaccination center was almost empty during the weekend, because the people supposed to be vaccinated did not receive the message telling them to come.
Local officials had to go through the civil registry and call people one by one, and a mayor borrowed a minibus to pick up the elderly from their homes.
Missed reservations
"Yesterday I took 20 of them (for the vaccine), today 30, plus about 15 teachers," said Giuseppe Papa, mayor of San Bassano, in another interview with La Repubblica.
Lombardy regional health minister Letizia Moratti on Sunday promised to take "swift and drastic decisions" to remedy this "unacceptable" situation.
And on Monday, Lombardy president Attilio Fontana hit the nail on the head, asking the board of directors of Aria, the company wholly owned by the region and responsible for, among other things, reservations for vaccinations, to resign.
"Otherwise I will decide the cancellation (of the appointments) by entrusting the managing director of the company", he told the press.
Where are the vaccines?
Italy, like the rest of the EU, is experiencing a vaccine shortage, but the hiccups in Lombardy, one of the wealthiest regions and believed to be among the most effective, are particularly glaring.
The country, where nearly 105,000 people have died from Covid-19, administered 7.8 million doses and fully vaccinated just under 2.5 million people, out of a population of 60 million.
In a public health system that leaves a lot of room for maneuver to the regions, the coordination of priorities has been lacking, despite a national recommendation to focus on those over 80 years old.
The percentage of them having received the two doses of the vaccine varies from 36.5% in Alto Adige to 2.6% in Sardinia, according to the independent health think tank GIMBE.
Prime Minister Mario Draghi has promised to use "all means" to fight the pandemic and a massive increase in vaccinations.
The government has set a target of tripling the number of vaccinations to 500,000 per day by mid-April, and fully immunizing 80% of the population by mid-September.
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