The meeting marked a "stratospheric moment for Italy", the "eyes of the world" were on Rome. This is how the Italian Minister of Health Roberto Speranza spoke on Sunday afternoon, visibly moved. He was referring to the two-day meeting with his counterparts from the G-20 group of the major economies that he opened in the Capitoline Museums in Rome. Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn (CDU) had traveled from Berlin. He was able to recover in Rome from the verbal attacks of the domestic vaccine opponents, about which he had last complained. The meeting took place in hybrid form. Some ministers, including Spahn's American counterpart Xavier Becerra, had traveled in person, others were able to be connected via video.
The perspective of host Speranza might not quite agree with the external view of the departmental meeting of an informal group of states. But Italy is chairing the G20 this year, and the meeting of health ministers in times of the pandemic may in fact be almost as important as the summit of heads of state or government, which will also be held in Rome at the end of October.
The central topics of the conference were the current fight against the coronavirus and a globally coordinated strategy to ward off future pandemics. In the run-up to the meeting, Speranza had a “Pact of Rome” drawn up, with which the participants should commit themselves to nothing less than “vaccinating all people in the world”. This is an ambitious but achievable goal, said Speranza: “The richest and strongest countries should make the development of a vaccination campaign for all nations their task. Because nobody saves himself alone. And vaccination is the weapon that we have at our disposal. "
In order to vaccinate all inhabitants of the earth with a first dose, a further six billion vaccine doses are initially required, according to Speranza's draft. It should be adopted this Monday after its presentation. Vaccination globalism is not just a requirement of humanitarian aid and justice towards developing and emerging countries, confirmed Speranza, but is in the very interests of rich and developed countries. Because even if they vaccinated their societies almost completely, the virus, which continues to circulate in Africa and Asia, could develop new dangerous mutants, which would then also pose a threat to the wealthy regions of the world. Jens Spahn announced in Rome on Sunday thatGermany will provide 100 million doses for the international vaccination campaign by the end of the year.
While on the first day of the meeting concrete steps in the fight against Covid-19 were struggled, this Monday should be about more fundamental questions. How can the world arm itself for the presumably more frequent leap of pathogens from animals to humans? How can jobs in the health sector be made more attractive? How can scientific knowledge and access to vaccines and drugs be better and more equitably distributed between developed and developing countries? The government in Rome under Prime Minister Mario Draghi seems to have found an answer to the question of what to do when there is not a lack of vaccine, but a lack of vaccination. Italy is the first country in Europe to consider introducing a general compulsory corona vaccination,Draghi and Speranza confirmed on Thursday. The prerequisite, however, is that the European and Italian drug agencies grant general approval to the vaccines previously used instead of just the emergency approval, as was previously the case.
In March Rome set the goal of fully vaccinating 80 percent of the population over the age of twelve by the end of September. On Sunday the value was 72.3 percent. Pandemic Special Commissioner Francesco Figliuolo is still convinced that the target will be reached by the end of the month. But Draghi's announcement that he would consider compulsory vaccination has led to considerable tensions in his broad governing coalition. The right-wing national Lega of the former Interior Minister Matteo Salvini is against the compulsory vaccination. The Social Democrats and other left parties in the coalition are in favor.
In Italy, vaccination has been mandatory for health care personnel since May. At the beginning of the school year and the winter semester, this should also have been introduced in the education system, according to Draghi and Speranza. Because of the resistance of trade unionists and right-wing parties, there is "only" the obligation to have a so-called Green Pass for the time being. This can be used to prove vaccination with at least one dose, recovery from Covid 19 disease or a negative test in the past 48 hours.
Since August, the Green Pass has to be presented in the interiors of restaurants, at cultural and sporting events and in museums, and since the beginning of September also on long-distance trains, intercity buses and airplanes. Draghi and Speranza have already announced the expansion of the Green Pass requirement to other areas of work and life. So far there have been only a few protests against the “green pass”. According to the latest surveys, around eight out of ten Italians think the Green Pass is good. Just as many respondents express their consent to a general compulsory vaccination.