Italy makes Green Pass mandatory for workers
People will need the document to access venues such as museums, hotels
Italy is to make a Covid-19 “Green Pass” mandatory for public and private sector workers, a minister said yesterday, becoming the first European country to do so as it tries to accelerate vaccination rates and stamp out infections. The pass, a digital or paper certificate showing someone has received at least one vaccine dose, tested negative or recently recovered from the virus, was originally conceived to ease travel among EU states.
But Italy was among a group of countries that also made it an internal requirement for people to access venues such as museums, gyms and indoor dining in restaurants. Regional Affairs Minister Mariastella Gelmini said on state radio that a cabinet meeting on Thursday would be “an important moment” in extending the obligatory use of the document.
Only weapon
Italy has also gradually extended use of the pass in the workplace, despite frictions over the issue in Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s national unity coalition. Gelmini said the government was now ready to go further. “We are heading towards a mandatory Green Pass not only for public sector workers but also private sector ones,” she told RAI radio.
“The vaccine is the only weapon we have against Covidand we can only contain infection by vaccinating a great majority of the population.” Italy has the second-highest Covid-19 death toll in Europe after Britain and the eighthhighest in the world.
Around 73 per cent of its 60-million population have had at least one Covidshot, and 65 per cent are fully vaccinated.