Daily Cases Reach 30,000... 16% of Italians "Not Vaccinated"

42% Say "Wait Until Effectiveness Is Verified"

Merchants and employees in Milan, Italy, protested on the 12th (local time) in front of Milan's Duomo Cathedral against the government's new restrictions in response to the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19). On this day, the daily number of COVID-19 cases in Italy increased significantly. The number of patients requiring intensive care also rose, raising concerns about a shortage of medical staff.

In Italy, where the daily number of new COVID-19 cases has surpassed 30,000, more than half of the citizens are skeptical or cautious about getting vaccinated.

According to a survey conducted by the multinational market research firm Ipsos on 1,000 Italians, local media such as Il Tempo reported on the 18th (local time) that 16% responded that they "would not get the COVID-19 vaccine."

42% expressed the view that they would "wait until the vaccine's effectiveness is verified."

Only 37% of respondents said they would "get vaccinated as soon as possible."

Local media indicated that this suggests widespread concerns among Italians about vaccine side effects and doubts about its efficacy.

As of the 17th, Italy recorded 32,191 new COVID-19 cases and 731 deaths in one day. The cumulative totals are 1,238,072 cases and 46,464 deaths, respectively.

Meanwhile, last week, the American pharmaceutical company Pfizer and the German company BioNTech announced that their vaccine showed over 90% preventive efficacy in an interim analysis of phase 3 clinical trials, and Moderna, a leading U.S. vaccine developer, also revealed interim results showing 94.5% efficacy.

Experts predict that vaccines approved by authorities could be supplied as early as the end of the year.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.