"Too Old for Vaccines to Work, Should Have Given Others a Chance"…Selfishness Born from COVID-19

Mr. Basilio Pompeii receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. [ANSA News Agency] [Image source = Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Eun-young] In Italy, the oldest recipient of the COVID-19 vaccine faced a flood of malicious comments. Some have responded that this phenomenon reflects the ageism and extreme selfishness born from COVID-19 in modern society.

According to local media such as the daily La Repubblica on the 9th (local time), recently, posts and comments insulting Basilio Pompei (103), who resides in a nursing home in central Tuscany, have flooded social media and online communities.

One netizen said, "He is too old for the vaccine to be effective. The vaccination opportunity should have been given to someone else."

Some of those who left malicious comments for Mr. Pompei were reportedly people who underestimated the dangers of COVID-19 and denied the efficacy of the vaccine.

As some thoughtless reactions became a hot topic, Mr. Pompei showed that he was not bothered at all.

In a media interview, Mr. Pompei stated, "I have experienced numerous vaccines throughout my life, and the COVID-19 vaccine is just one of them. It is no different from other vaccines." He added, "Even if someone writes or comments like that, I have nothing to say."

The media reported that Mr. Pompei is one of the few survivors who returned to his homeland Italy after the end of World War II and is a fairly respected figure in the local community.

He is known to have been taken by the German Nazis to a forced labor camp in Poland during World War II, where he endured hardships for two years before returning.

Meanwhile, like other European Union (EU) member countries, Italy began administering the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine primarily to medical and healthcare workers starting from the 27th of last month, and it has been confirmed that about 490,000 people have been vaccinated so far.

As of the 8th, Italy reported 17,533 new daily COVID-19 cases and 620 deaths. The cumulative number of confirmed cases stands at 2,237,890, with a total of 77,911 deaths. The positivity rate, which indicates the ratio of confirmed cases to tests conducted, was 13.83%.

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