The news from Italy’s capital of culture for 2022 comes as mass vaccinations get underway on small Italian islands that are bracing for an influx of summer visitors.
The mayor of Procida, Dino Ambrosino, declared it Italy’s first “COVID-free island”, saying that it was prioritised not for the sake of tourists but for locals.
“Small islands in Italy are fragile territories that often have limited health services,” he said.
Italy’s COVID-19 emergency commissioner, Francesco Figliuolo, on Wednesday approved further mass vaccination campaigns on isole minori (small islands), starting with those where health services are scarcest.
The plan aims to inoculate the whole adult population at once, rather than in stages according to age groups as is the policy on the mainland where many regions are still targeting people over age 70.
Mass vaccinations are already underway on Procida’s neighbouring islands of Capri and Ischia, while Sicily plans to begin campaigns on its outlying Aeolian Islands this weekend, with the goal of getting several of them fully vaccinated within a fortnight.
The Pontine islands off the coast of Lazio, the Tremiti in Puglia, Capraia and Giglio in Tuscany, and the Maddalena archipelago off Sardinia are also aiming to vaccinate all residents in the coming weeks.
Mayors of Italy’s dozens of small islands, which altogether have a permanent population of a few hundred thousand but can host several times that in summer, have been pushing for blanket vaccination before Italy invites international tourists back in mid-May.
The call for “COVID-free islands” has been criticised by regions on the mainland as an unfair use of Italy’s limited doses, with the country still struggling to vaccinate its elderly population.
