Italy's COVID-19 vaccination campaign risks being held back again after the nation's health authorities, and those of other EU states, recommended the AstraZeneca jab only be used for over-60s due to possible links to rare cases of blood clots.
The Higher Health Council (CSS) said a causal connection has not been established but added that a link was plausible given that, while still rare, the number of blood clots after vaccination was higher than expected in under-60s, but not for over-60s.
The CSS stressed that the AstraZeneca vaccine has not been banned for under-60s and anyone who has had the first dose of it can go on to have the second.
Nevertheless, the new recommendations mean Italy's vaccination plan will have to change, with many of the bookings made for this month in need of being cancelled or postponed and the administration of around 2.3 million second doses to be managed.
The vaccination campaign has not moved as fast as had been hoped so far, in part because of delays in the delivery of doses by the pharmaceutical companies and in part due to the poor performance of some regions in rolling out the doses that they have.
The government has set a target of giving our half a million shots a day, but that threshold is still distant.
Over eight million people have had at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose in Italy so far and more than 3.6 million are fully vaccinated as they have had both the first and second doses.
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