A regional leader has called on the national Italian government to mandate that all healthcare workers take the coronavirus vaccine after cases were detected in a local hospital.
President of Liguria Giovanni Toti called on the government to intervene after healthcare staff were blamed for infecting nine patients in Lavagna. While in the commune of Tiglieto, two employees are suspected of having infected three patients.
“Fortunately, one [patient] has already been discharged, and no one is in danger of losing their life,” President Toti said, according to Il Giornale.
Mr Toti added: “Unvaccinated hospital staff unknowingly brought the virus into a ward and caused nine positive patients who are now hospitalised in Lavagna hospital.”
Toti went on to call for Italian Health Minister Roberto Speranza to issue an emergency decree that would force healthcare workers to take the Wuhan coronavirus vaccine or permit hospitals to reprimand employees for not obeying work safety rules.
The new infections come just over a week after at least 14 people were infected with the Wuhan coronavirus during an outbreak at the San Martino hospital in Genoa.
Earlier this week, a labour court in the town of Belluno also approved of forced holidays for 10 healthcare workers at two nursing homes who had refused to be vaccinated, with Judge Anna Travia also ruling that the workers should not be paid their salaries.
Italian Senator Licia Ronzulli, a member of Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia, welcomed the move, saying: “The freedom not to get vaccinated has a limit on the right of others not to get sick with Covid.”
Earlier this month, as new coronavirus cases remained high, Italy sent several regions into “red zone” lockdown, restricting travel and business for millions of Italians after the number of deaths since the start of the pandemic passed 100,000.
On March 24th, the country saw 551 deaths from the virus, a number that has not been seen since January 20th, according to statistics from the World Health Organization (WHO).
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