The first Covid-free island of Italy? It is the bell Procida. This was promised by his mayor, Dino Ambrosino, who expected to conclude the entire vaccination campaign in the first days of May. "Procida can be a national case study”He proudly declared on May 1st. Day in which, the doses administered were 860.

Procida Covid-free, the numbers of vaccination

A Procida 10.288 people live, of which about 7.500 can be vaccinated with one of the anti-Covid serums available. The campaign initially joined 4.924 people. Of the 2.800 citizens who have not booked, 544 reside abroad, 150 have recovered from the Coronavirus, 49 are still in quarantine, 500 are sailors and a few handfuls do not live permanently on the island. All the others, who could be vaccinated but have not yet turned up, were reached at home to understand the reasons for the lack of accreditation. The total, at the end of the operation, reached 6.900. Numbers, these, that proceed straight towards the goal: make Procida the first Covid-free island in Italy. Thus, in the first days of May, the second doses were administered for the more adult population and the first / only doses in the 18-29 age group. A range in which serum has been given priority Johnson & Johnson.

Procida - View of Procida (Ekrem Canli | Wikipedia)
View of Procida - credit Ekrem Canli - CC BY-SA 4.0

For Procida, becoming Covid-free does not only have a tourist value. Indeed, the first reason is of a health nature. "Procida, like all islands, suffers from one poor health. If an outbreak breaks out here, it's not like dry land, we can carry one patient at a time”Commented the mayor. Explaining that vaccinating the entire population that can be vaccinated is the only viable strategy to secure its inhabitants and the tourists who go here on vacation. Getting seriously ill with Coronavirus, on the island, requires the intervention of thehelicopter rescue. An operation with very high costs, for an area that has just over 10.000 inhabitants.

The conduct of the vaccination campaign

To organize the vaccination campaign in Procida was the Asl Napoli 2, following the order issued by the president of the Campania Region Vincenzo De Luca. His idea, from the beginning, was clear: once the fragile subjects have been secured, proceed with the massive vaccination in the smaller islands following the descending order of age. Thus, a vaccination center was set up in the Municipality of Procida, operating continuously from 9.00 to 20.00, 7 days a week. The first day the over 7s were vaccinated, the second day the 50-40 range. Subsequently it was the turn of the over 49s and then the over 30s. These age groups were made safe after the immunization of the over 20s. The result? 60% of the population is currently immunized.

Procida island seen from the sea

On the territory of Procida, moreover, there is only one emergency room. The most serious Covid patients should be brought to Pozzuoli. An eventuality that for the moment has occurred only rarely: the cases recorded on the island have been mainly asymptomatic, or treated at home, and few citizens have needed hospitalization. Also because the general practitioners have implemented an effective home care campaign. "The message we want to launch is that once we are all vaccinated, we can seriously compete with other countries, such as Spain and Greece”Commented Ambrosino. To then explain that the tourist capacity of Procida is very limited, with no more than 2.000 guests at a time and a hundred thousand a year of daily vacationers. A small context which, thanks to mass vaccination, will be even safer in the coming summer.

Procida is the first Covid-free island in Italy last edit: 2021-05-04T09:00:00+02:00 da Laura Alberti

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