Covid vaccination mandatory for Italian health workers

"Vaccination is mandatory for all those working in healthcare facilities," officials Ansa news agency quoted Health Minister Roberto Speranza as saying on Monday. 

"We have to keep working in order for this rule to be fully implemented, since vaccination is our most important tool to put an end to this (pandemic) phase," Speranza added. 

The Minister's remarks came two days after the reports that some 300 healthcare workers in the country's northern regions filed a legal appeal before an administrative court in Brescia against this requirement, reports Xinhua news agency. 

The vaccination against the coronavirus is "strongly recommended" but not mandatory in the country; yet, the government has ruled health workers -- for the specific sensitiveness of their job -- are among those categories who have to vaccinate in order to keep working. 

The workers would base their appeal on the claim that this rule violated the article in Italy's constitution defining the citizen's right to health, which states that no one may be obliged to undergo any given health treatment against their will. 

While the court was expected to hear the legal case in mid-July, the issue was further discussed on Monday by the president of the Italian Federation of Medical Associations (FNOMCEO) Filippo Anelli. 

"I want to recall our Constitutional Court has already ruled the vaccination is not a must but a requirement for practicing the medical profession," he told Adnkronos news agency. 

"Therefore, professionals face a choice: if they want to be doctors, they have to get the jab." 

Vaccination efforts kept going across the country. 

Over 54 million doses of authorised vaccines have been administered so far, and over 21 million people, which account for more than 39 per cent of the country's population over 12, have been fully immunised, according to the latest official data. 

Since the pandemic broke out in the country in February last year, Italy has registered 4,263,797 cornavirus cases and 127,680 fatalities.