Italy vaccinates over 151,000 people against COVID-19

ROME

A total of 151,606 people in Italy have been vaccinated against the novel coronavirus since vaccinations began on Dec. 27, officials from the Italian Prime Ministry announced Monday.

Of those vaccinated, 134,255 were healthcare professionals, 8,771 were residents of nursing homes and 8,580 were non-healthcare professionals, officials said.

They added that Italy has received 479,700 vaccine doses since Dec. 27 and has used 31.6% of them up to now.

The region where most of the vaccinations were carried out has been Lazio, which includes the capital Rome.

The total number of vaccines administered in Lazio is 28,134, followed by Tuscany and Veneto.

In Lombardy, where the most COVID-19-related deaths have been recorded, with a total of 25,344 fatalities, only 6,973 people have been vaccinated.

The fact that Lombardy and other regions lag behind in vaccination has been a matter of debate in the country.

Italy expects to receive 470,000 more doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine on Tuesday.

At least 75,680 people in Italy have died from the coronavirus and 2,166,244 have been infected, according to figures compiled by US-based Johns Hopkins University, making it one of the worst-hit countries worldwide.

The COVID-19 pandemic has claimed nearly 1.85 million lives in 191 countries and regions since the virus was first detected in Wuhan, China in December 2019.

*Writing by Dilan Pamuk in Ankara