No vax, Ricciardi: “Most of them will be convinced with the green pass”

“With the green pass a good part” of the no vax “will be convinced”. Walter Ricciardi, consultant to the Minister of Health Roberto Speranza, expressed himself in this way at DiMartedì. Italy, which is proceeding with the third doses and is about to start vaccinating children in the 5-11 age group, has launched the Super green pass which limits activities for non-vaccinated citizens. “They will realize that if they do not vaccinate this emergency will continue for years. The whole country will suffer, we will be stuck. Not to mention the expenses, every month we spend 50 million euros to treat the no vax who go to the hospital. Half a billion of them. euro “every year” that we could use to treat other diseases, “Ricciardi says. The picture of the epidemic is characterized by the increase in infections, but a few weeks after Christmas the situation is much better than in 2020. “If we compare this moment to the same period last year, we have many fewer deaths”, he says. The obligation to vaccinate, at the moment, is not an issue on the agenda, unlike what happens in other countries. “In countries like Germany and Austria, with low vaccination coverage, the obligation makes sense. In Italy it can reach 90% of the population vaccinated with children”, he highlights. Clearer data are awaited on the Omicron variant, the latest bugbear. “There is a diminished capacity of the vaccine, but not a ‘leap’. No more than 1% of the population is reinfected, it happens to a very limited extent,” Ricciardi says, pointing to the risks associated with the variant.