Meloni administration yet to lift fines for unvaccinated

Affected are unvaccinated citizens over the age of 50 as well as the staff of some professional groups for which vaccination against the Corona virus has applied in recent months, including paramedics, teachers and security forces.

Wednesday ended the six-month period unvaccinated had to justify not vaccinating. According to the law, anyone who cannot explain why they have not been vaccinated three times must now pay a fine of 100 euros.

The new government under Meloni abolished the vaccination requirement for paramedics in October. Rumors that she wanted to lift the 100-euro fine have not yet been confirmed.

Italy’s Constitutional Court on Thursday upheld the vaccine mandates introduced in 2021 “for procedural reasons”.  Italy became the first country in Europe to make it obligatory for healthcare workers to be vaccinated. They must either have the jab or be transferred to other roles or suspended without pay.

Italy’s Minister of Health recently said fining those who refuse the jab would do more harm than good – as collections of fines rarely happen. Speaking on an Italian radio station on December 2, Orazio Schillaci gave examples of other European countries which introduced fines but almost never collected payment for the fines.

According to Schillaci, neither Austria nor Greece had however acted on their threats to fine unvaccinated members of the public.

In Austria, meanwhile, adults were threatened in January this year with fines of up to a staggering €3 600 from mid-March if they refused the shot.