On Thursday Premier Mario Draghi's
cabinet looks set to approve a decree further extending the
scope of the Green Pass by making the COVID-19 vaccine passport
obligatory for public and private sector workers from the middle
of October,.
There had been talk of the government making the Green Pass
obligatory for the public sector first and then extending it to
the private sector further down the line.
But Regional Affairs Minister Mariastella Gelmini said Wednesday
that the government was set to make the Green Pass obligatory
for both groups at the same time.
"Immunizing the overwhelming majority of the population is the
only way to contain contagion," Gelmini added.
The government's 'control room' taskforce is gathering to
discuss the issue on Thursday and Gelmini will present the
executive's measures to Italy's regional government's before a
cabinet meeting.
Draghi had talks with the nation's trade unions on Wednesday
about the Green Pass.
The unions asked for workers to be able to have free COVID tests
if the Green Pass becomes obligatory for them.
League leader Matteo Salvini has made the same request as has
Giorgio Meloni, the leader of the opposition, right-wing
Brothers of Italy (FdI) party.
The government, however, is reportedly reluctant to do this on
the grounds that making COVID tests free would lessen the
incentive to get vaccinated.
The green certificate shows that someone is vaccinated for the
coronavirus, has recovered from it or has recently tested
negative.
So it is possible for unvaccinated people to get a short-term
Green Pass but they need to keep having COVID tests to renew it.
The vaccine passport is already necessary to do many things in
Italy, such travel abroad or on high-speed trains and on
domestic flights, attend certain events and to be able to sit at
a table inside bars and restaurants.
Any adult that enters a school, including a parent, must have it
and so must all higher education staff and students.
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