protest italy green pass vaccine mandate
© Andreas SOLARO/AFPProtestors demonstrate against Italy's green pass in Rome on July 27th, 2021.
As Italy falls just short of its goal of vaccinating 80% of the population, the impending requirement for all workers to show a health certificate has yet to make a significant impact on the immunisation effort.

For a moment, it looked as though the Italian government would reach its goal of vaccinating 80% of Italy's population against the coronavirus by the end of September.

On September 30th, the counter hovered at a tantalisingly close 78.5%.


Comment: 'Tantalisingly'? That an invasive, coercive, and potentially deadly, medical procedure, that violates human rights and seeks to divide society, can be referred to in such a way reveals just how warped some people's thinking has become; more spefically, those who support draconian vaccine mandates.


A couple of weeks earlier, in a push to make it over the finish line, government ministers passed a decree making it obligatory for all workers to produce a health certificate or 'green pass' to enter the workplace from October 15th.

It was hoped that the requirement to show a green pass - which proves that the holder has received at least one dose of the vaccine, has recovered from Covid in the past six months, or has recently tested negative for the virus - would nudge the vaccine-hesitant over the fence and provide a boost to the final stages of the campaign.


Comment: These are not the 'vaccine hesitant', they know what's on offer and they want no part of it. Threatening someone with destitution is not 'encouragement', it is coercion.


But with just one week to go before the rule comes into force, the government's vaccination counter remains stubbornly stuck at 79.74%, indicating that the hoped-for 'green pass effect' hasn't materialised on a national level.

A report published by the Gimbe foundation for evidence-based medicine on Thursday shows that the rate of new vaccines administered declined by 22.2% in the week between September 27th and October 3rd.

Overall, the rate of vaccine dose administration shows a steady weekly decline between August 30th and the start of October, bar a brief bump in the week of September 20th-26th.


Comment: The slow down appears to coincide both with the announcement that the experimental injections would be mandatory, and also much of Europe returning from it's month long holiday in August. It seems that on their return from holiday there was a surge in protests across much of Europe against the mandates and perhaps seeing that a pushback was growing, those who were holding out may be thinking that there's still hope.


vaccination Italy 2021 august october
© Gimbe FoundationWeekly vaccination doses between July 5th and October 3rd.

One thing the green pass requirement does appear to have influenced, the report shows, is the public's use of rapid antigen tests.


Comment: That's likely the unvaccinated taking the tests in order to be able to participate in the new apartheid society.


These increased by 57.7% in the month between August 6th (when a green pass requirement was first introduced for entry to leisure and sport facilities and indoor dining) and September 7th.

The seven-day moving average in rapid test use increased from 113,000 on August 6th to 178,000 on September 7th, and has since plateaued.

vaccinated italy
© Gimbe FoundationRates of newly vaccinated people and of rapid tests between July 22nd and September 6th.
"The progressive expansion of the green pass has had a very clear effect in terms of population testing, contributing to reducing the circulation of the virus," said the foundation's president, Dr. Nino Cartabellotta.

"But up to now, it has not brought about a surge in the curve of newly vaccinated,"

"Considering that at least five million unvaccinated people are of working age, the litmus test to assess the effectiveness of the 'gentle push' will come around October 15th, when the mandatory green pass for public and private employees takes effect".

The sluggish vaccine uptake rate of recent weeks stands in stark contrast to that of late July, when prime minister Mario Draghi first announced the introduction of the green pass as a requirement for entering sports and leisure facilities.


Comment: A similar uptick occurred almost everywhere; and, in fact, as the Israeli PM himself was caught admitting, that was the point: to scare the holdouts into getting the vaccine: Oops: Hot mic catches Israeli health minister admitting vaccine passports are about coercion


Despite widespread protests, online vaccination booking portals struggled to cope with demand for appointments in the immediate aftermath, with at least half a million appointments made in the 24 hours following Draghi's televised address.

But with the majority of the population now inoculated against the virus, those who remain unvaccinated are likely to be the most staunch holdouts, with the greatest level of resistance to the government's efforts.

8.3 million eligible people in Italy currently remain unvaccinated, according to the foundation's report.

It is not known what proportion of those people are unable to get vaccinated for medical reasons.

In introducing a health certificate requirement for employees, Italy has followed a similar path to France, where workers in public-facing roles have since August 9th been required to show a health certificate.


Comment: That countries have enforced the same restrictions, even choosing the same date for their draconian diktats, despite often wildly different situations, reveals that this agenda is coordinated and supranational; and it begs the question: just who or what could compel governments to be so brazen?

october 15th

From mid-October these employees will no longer be able to access free tests, but must pay for 'convenience tests' at a rate of €29 for an antigen test or €49 for a PCR test.

Despite some initial resistance, France's immunisation campaign has been broadly successful, with almost 90% of the eligible population now vaccinated.


Comment: That may be so, but those at the protests aren't only the unvaccinated, because even the vaccinated can see the inherent horror these 'passes' pose. Moreover, even just a few thousand healthcare staff who are prevented from working because they're unvaccinated could cause serious problems.


Italy has never provided free testing, though the government has introduced similar caps on the cost (however the exact price varies between region) and recently extended the validity of green passes generated from a negative PCR test result from 48 hours to 72.

The Italian government however has not ruled out the possibility of introducing a vaccination mandate for all if its targets are not reached.

Ministers previously stated that any new rules would be evaluated partly based on the vaccination rate achieved by September 30th, as this would make clear the extent of vaccine hesitancy in the country.


Comment: Rout out the dissenters?


At a press conference in September, Health Minister Roberto Speranza said the Italian government would proceed "without fear" with plans to introduce a mandate if it were deemed necessary "in the defence of the right to health and the need to avoid new deprivations of freedom".