Italian Prime Minister’s hopeful green pass will allow economic and social activities to restart next month — MercoPress
The green pass hopes that the Italian Prime Minister will allow economic and social activities to restart next month
After vaccinating European adults, Von der Leyen will target children.
Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi told the European Commission in Brussels on Tuesday that he was confident that the vaccination “green pass” should be ready by mid-June so that economic and social activities can restart, including the return tourists at the start of the season.
Draghi explained that among EU leaders “there was some satisfaction with how vaccinations are progressing pretty much everywhere.”
Meanwhile, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stressed that by this week “half of adults in the EU will have received the first dose”. as she praised the ??constant progress?? achieved so far thanks to the 300 million doses administered so far to 46% of the adult population of the European Union. Von der Leyen also mentioned nearly a billion doses that will be available in the second half of 2021, “much more than enough?” to immunize all Europeans. And after the adults, she will turn to the children.
At the end of the month, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) will decide on the vaccination of people aged 12 to 15 years. And then it will start evaluating vaccinations in schools.
However, several questions remain about the future of immunity, such as the duration of coverage and then the time it takes for a second vaccination. The duration of the ??green pass?? is related to this, an aspect on which the EMA will decide.
The second question is whether children should also be vaccinated and the third is how to adapt to new variants. Vaccines are said to work against known strains of the virus, but no one knows what the future holds. Therefore, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) will extend surveillance of the variants from Europe to the rest of the world.
However, Tuesday’s meeting was not as productive regarding climate change and everything was postponed for a future meeting. EU countries are still divided between those who want to review the criteria for sharing emissions reduction efforts (the founding countries) and those who want to get out of the current ones (those in the East benefit more).
Draghi said “it was important that the different points of view begin to confront each other and that an appointment be made when the commission presents the climate plan, which has just been drafted today but which is very important and innovative. “. He also explained that “it foresees fundamental transformations, and one of the issues raised by all is the importance of social protection in the process of ecological transition. Everyone is aware that the weakest must be protected.
