(by Andrea Pinto) Draghi has only one goal, 600 vaccinations a day to save the next school year and try to reopen Italy already in the summer. Now it's up to the new head of the Civil Protection Fabrizio Curcio reorganizing a car that had rusted over the months. Let's talk about putting an army made up of 300 thousand volunteers scattered throughout the national territory. Curcio will not be alone in this undertaking, he will have at his side the new extraordinary commissioner for the emergency, general Francesco Paolo Figliuolo. Already yesterday the first results were seen, 200 doses were injected, double compared to the day before.
Beyond the ideological criticisms against our military, they have already been on the field since February 2020 with two operations theIgea and theEos, under the coordination of the IOC - Joint Chief Operating Officer - led by the general Luciano Portolano. With two generals of this caliber, the fight against the pandemic becomes increasingly one of the priorities of our Armed Forces which, thanks to their expertise in the logistics sector, experienced above all outside national borders, can really make a difference. The plan provides for the massive use of barracks and fairs, as well as the setting up of new tensile structures, but also and above all on the possible reconversion of a part of the 200 Drive through Defense, where, at the moment, the swabs are carried out, in structures for the administration of vaccines. We are talking about 148 stations already active that will be significantly increased.
Defense has always been at the forefront. Not only Drive Through but also hub for the storage and conservation of vaccines thanks to special refrigerated containers, widely used in the areas of operation abroad. The main hub, for the storage of the doses, is ensured by theair Force at thePratica di Mare Airport from where convoys depart every day to reach 21 "Sub hub“, Military structures located in all Italian regions. From here they leave to be delivered to the various administration centers in the various territories. The plan provides for the use of 11 airplanes, 73 helicopters and over 360 cars for the distribution of vaccines.
I Defense Drive Through, if necessary, they can be converted from sites for carrying out swabs to centers for administering vaccines. The health personnel of the Armed Forces are also employed for the administration with mobile teams in the Rsa or at home for citizens with mobility difficulties.
IERI (Yesterday) Son e Curtius they met with the ministers Hope e Gelmini. On Friday there will be a meeting with the Conference of the Regions. The aim is to guarantee a homogeneous and mass vaccination, there are too many delays recorded by some regions compared to the more virtuous others. In Lombardy, for example, there are 27 vaccination facilities and in Lazio about twenty, in Calabria there is only one, in Catanzaro. To standardize the vaccination campaign throughout Italy, the possibility of experimenting with a "reactive" vaccination is being evaluated, a bit like Lombardy would like to do, delivering vaccine vials also to the various drive-ins.
The Defense operation Igea employs 1700 soldiers in all. 457 doctors and 798 nurses from the Armed Forces competing for the National Health Service. At the moment 148 Drive in are active, with the use of 360 health workers (106 Doctors, 254 Nurses and 1 Cri Volunteer Nurse). And others will be launched in days. The Defense has also made 10 permanent laboratories available. Of these 5 of the Army in the cities of Rome, Milan, Padua, Cagliari and Messina; 4 of Navy in Taranto, Ancona, Augusta and La Spezia; 1 ofAeronautica Militare in Milan. 2 are the mobile health laboratories of theArmy operating in the cities of Caserta and Cosenza. It is also considering hiring the 3 doctors and 12 nurses who had responded to the public notice instituted by the former commissioner. From April, Italy could get 4.000.000 vaccinations per month with an average of 600 per week. In fact, from April the three current vaccines will be joined by that of Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) and those of Curavac and Novavax. Up to now Italy has received 6,3 million doses, about 4,2 million have been used so far. The doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine for Italy will be 26 million and take effect with a single administration and can be stored at a temperature of 3-4 degrees. A turning point because they can also be administered by family doctors. On 11 and 12 March, Johnson & Johnson's American vaccine will be evaluated by the European regulatory body EMA after which it will be examined by the Italian drug agency AIFA.
