Vaccination strategies between compulsion and incentives. The Italian Green Pass experience

Vaccination strategies have been able to change the global burden of COVID-19 in Italy and Europe. Universal Mass Vaccination for SARS-COV-2 was initiated in Israel, UAE, Europe and the United States in December 2020, and post marketing studies have demonstrated that vaccines are highly effective in all age groups in preventing symptomatic and asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections and COVID-19-related hospitalizations, severe diseases, and death, including those caused by emerging variants. Although increased vaccination coverage has caused a sustained decline in the incidence of SARS-CoV-2, real-life data on the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccination are lower than expected from clinical trials, likely because of the lack of indirect protection for unvaccinated individuals. According to data from the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, as of 31 October 2021, 585,743,531 doses of vaccine have been administered and 80,3% of adults (18+) in the EU/EEA have received at least one dose of vaccine.