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Nurses and doctors are protesting in Rome against the working conditions in Italian intensive care units
Photo: ANDREAS SOLARO / AFP
Looking back, says Francesca Cavini, she was both lucky and unlucky in the corona pandemic.
Luck, because so far not a single resident of her retirement home in the small village of Dozza in Emilia-Romagna has died from Covid-19.
Bad luck because she still lost two colleagues.
Not the virus, but the vaccination.
They had to leave because they did not want to be vaccinated.
In Italy, what is still being discussed in Germany has been in effect since May 2021: a general compulsory vaccination for health professionals.
Anyone who does not follow it and cannot be employed anywhere else has been released since then.
Unpaid.
Employers who fail to comply with the regulations face penalties.
This drastic step was a lesson from the corona trauma that the country has experienced since the beginning of the pandemic.
Italy was hit earlier than others.
The pictures of coffins that were transported away in columns of trucks went around the world.
Experts say Italy was poorly prepared at the time.
As early as March of this year, the country had 100,000 dead.
Compulsory vaccination in the health sector should prevent it from continuing like this.
For many of those affected, however, it initially resembled a vote of no confidence.
“We have been working at the limit for a year and a half.
And the compulsory vaccination has stolen even more colleagues from us, ”complains geriatric nurse Cavini.
New layoffs every week
Union representatives also feared the compulsory vaccination would exacerbate the care emergency.
"We currently receive messages every week from colleagues who are quitting and leaving the hospitals," warned Giancarlo Go, secretary of the FPCGIL nursing union, in July.
The Italian government's corona measures already led to protests at that time.
Since then, the anger has increased, as has the pressure on the unvaccinated.
In particular, since the so-called Green Pass rules were expanded in October: Anyone who wants to go to the office now has to prove that he or she has either been vaccinated or has currently been tested - every day.
Tests are only free for people who cannot get vaccinated for health reasons.
Despite the anger, trade unionist Go assesses the situation very clearly today: »We support the compulsory vaccination.
It has been proven to protect our nurses and prevent worse. "
In other countries such as France and the USA there has long been compulsory vaccination in the health sector. If you want to continue working in your profession, you must also prove that you are protected there. Other countries such as Spain, Denmark or Germany, on the other hand, continue to rely on insight. The question is how much longer. What experiences have countries made with compulsory vaccination in the medium term?
In Italy it was ultimately well received, say observers. “Today, 98 percent of employees in the health system are vaccinated. Most of them are now waiting for their booster appointment, ”says trade unionist Go. Very few members would have left the nursing union because it did not want to legally challenge the vaccination requirement. However: »Of those who gave up their jobs because of the compulsory vaccination, most were on the verge of retirement. It wasn't as dramatic as I feared. "
"I was also afraid that the vaccination could harm me with long-term effects," says Angela I., an intensive care nurse from Bologna.
A fear that is medically unfounded and yet apparently worried many.
Angela I has now also been vaccinated.
"My colleagues and I saw it as our duty to our patients that we protect ourselves."
Five times fewer infections than last year
In fact, official data show that the number of people infected with corona in the Italian health system has decreased significantly since February.
Most recently it was, rising slightly, at an average of 134 per day - less than a fifth of the previous year's value.
From Giancarlo Go's point of view, this is an indication that the compulsory vaccination has proven its worth.
Eight months after its introduction, geriatric nurse Francesca Cavini also sees more advantages than negative effects from the compulsory vaccination.
“We are still working to the limit, we have double shifts and vacation bans.
But at least we now know that we are protected from one another, «she says.
"So it was the right decision."
In the meantime, there are discussions in Italy about extending the compulsory vaccination to police officers and teachers.
However, Giancarlo Go believes that will hardly be enough.
"The resistance to the vaccinations ensured that the virus spread even faster." In the meantime, the hospitals are again on the verge of overload.
Together with the two other unions in the health sector, the FPCGIL is now calling for even more radical measures, says Go: "From our point of view, the compulsory vaccination should be extended to the entire population."
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