Weigh vaccine obligation for working with public - Costa

(ANSA) - ROME, NOV 19 - Health Undersecretary Andrea Costa said Friday that the possibility of making COVID vaccination obligatory for those working with the public should be considered.
    At present, only health workers are obliged to get the jab.
    "We were among the first to introduce the obligatory vaccine for health workers," Costa said on Italian radio.
    "We must think about doing it with other categories, those who are in contact with the public, such as the police and those working in large retail outlets".
    Carlo Bonomi, president of industrial employers' group Confindustria, agreed that "sadly we are seeing a rise in (COVID infection) numbers that cannot leave us unconcerned.
    "The only thing that can make us safe is obligatory vaccines".
    Regional Affairs Minister Mariastella Gelmini also said that "there are no new restrictions at the moment, but if we are forced into a colour change (to higher COVID risk), I think the 85% of Italians who have been vaccinated cannot be penalised".
    Italian governors have called for lockdown measures against the unvaccinated and anti-vaxxers.
    Fruili Governor Massimiliano Fedriga, chair of the conference of the regions, said Friday forcing anti-vaxxers to get the jab would be like "firing" them and asked for Green Pass health certificates to be checked on the border with Austria, where the virus is "spreading like wildfire".
    Veneto Governor Luca Zaia said making vaccines compulsory for anti-vaxxers was not possible in Italy.
    Ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right Forza Italia (FI) party said "we are seriously thinking of making vaccinations obligatory". (ANSA).