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COVID-19 RULES

Italian court upholds rule suspending unvaccinated workers without pay

An Italian court on Friday rejected an appeal by 127 public sector workers against rules meaning those who refuse a Covid vaccine are suspended from work without pay.

Published: 11 March 2022 16:58 CET
Italian court upholds rule suspending unvaccinated workers without pay
Anti-vaccine protestors in Rome hold a banner reading ‘my body, my choice’. Italy has mandated vaccination against Covid-19 for many public sector workers since December. Photo by Filippo MONTEFORTE / AFP

The Lazio regional administrative court (TAR) ruled that the Italian government was within its rights to suspend civil servants without pay if they failed to comply with the requirement to be vaccinated against Covid-19.

The court dismissed an appeal brought by 127 public sector workers including police, healthcare staff and teachers who had been suspended from work without pay after refusing vaccination, newspaper La Stampa reported.

Their appeal centred on the question of whether the vaccine requirement was justified in order to protect the ‘right to health’ as enshrined in the Italian Constitution.

The court rejected the appeal by stating that the question of constitutional compatibility was “manifestly unfounded”. 

In December 2021, Italy expanded the number of categories of workers subject to its vaccine mandate to include all workers in Italy’s defence, security, emergency rescue, and juvenile and community justice sectors, as well as police, intelligence officers and prison guards.

The requirement was also extended to administrative staff in healthcare and teaching. Workers in public-facing roles in these sectors had already been subject to a vaccination requirement.

Those who refuse to get vaccinated can be fined and will ultimately face indefinite suspension from work without pay.

In addition, Italy requires all over-50s to be vaccinated, and to show proof of vaccination to enter their workplace in any sector.

The law states that exemptions can only be granted if an employee obtains medical certification stating that taking a Covid vaccine would pose an “established danger to health, in relation to specific documented clinical conditions”.

Find more information about Italy’s Covid-19 vaccination campaign on the Italian health ministry’s website (available in English).

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HEALTH

Italy’s schools warned to ‘avoid gatherings’ as Covid cases rise

As Italy’s new school year began, masks and hand sanitiser were distributed in schools and staff were asked to prevent gatherings to help stem an increase in Covid infections.

Published: 11 September 2023 12:48 CEST
Italy’s schools warned to ‘avoid gatherings’ as Covid cases rise

Pupils returned to school in many parts of Italy on Monday and authorities said they were distributing masks and hand sanitiser amid a post-summer increase in the number of recorded cases of Covid–19.

“The advice coming from principals, teachers and janitors is to avoid gatherings of students, especially in these first days of school,” Mario Rusconi, head of Italy’s Principals’ Association, told Rai news on Monday.

He added that local authorities in many areas were distributing masks and hand sanitizer to schools who had requested them.

“The use of personal protective equipment is recommended for teachers and students who are vulnerable,” he said, confirming that “use is not mandatory.”

A previous requirement for students to wear masks in the classroom was scrapped at the beginning of the last academic year.

Walter Ricciardi, former president of the Higher Health Institute (ISS), told Italy’s La Stampa newspaper on Monday that the return to school brings the risk of increased Covid infections.

Ricciardi described the health ministry’s current guidelines for schools as “insufficient” and said they were “based on politics rather than scientific criteria.”

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Recorded cases of Covid have increased in most Italian regions over the past three weeks, along with rates of hospitalisation and admittance to intensive care, as much of the country returns to school and work following the summer holidays.

Altogether, Italy recorded 21,309 new cases in the last week, an increase of 44 percent compared to the 14,863 seen the week before.

While the World Health Organisation said in May that Covid was no longer a “global health emergency,” and doctors say currently circulating strains of the virus in Italy are not a cause for alarm, there are concerns about the impact on elderly and clinically vulnerable people with Italy’s autumn Covid booster campaign yet to begin.

“We have new variants that we are monitoring but none seem more worrying than usual,” stated Fabrizio Maggi, director of the Virology and Biosafety Laboratories Unit of the Lazzaro Spallanzani Institute for Infectious Diseases in Rome

He said “vaccination coverage and hybrid immunity can only translate into a milder disease in young and healthy people,” but added that “vaccinating the elderly and vulnerable continues to be important.”

Updated vaccines protecting against both flu and Covid are expected to arrive in Italy at the beginning of October, and the vaccination campaign will begin at the end of October, Rai reported.

Amid the increase in new cases, Italy’s health ministry last week issued a circular mandating Covid testing on arrival at hospital for patients with symptoms.

Find more information about Italy’s current Covid-19 situation and vaccination campaign on the Italian health ministry’s website (available in English).

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