The fourth dose of covid vaccine is having difficulty taking off. Yesterday, GIMBE, an independent organization that has promoted the integration of the best scientific evidence in the health sector since 1996, issued a warning. In response to the Italian Medicines Agency's approval of the two updated vaccines for Omicron BA.1 and Omicron BA.4-5 as a booster dose, the Ministry of Health's Circular of September 23 provided the awaited clarifications, making both bivalent vaccines available as a second booster dose upon request for all individuals over the age of 12. (fourth dose). Over 19.1 million people are therefore candidates to receive it: 14 million can receive it immediately, nearly 1.9 million are not immediately eligible because they have been cured for less than 120 days, and nearly 3.2 million have already received it. As of September 28 (update at 06:16), 3,257,289 fourth doses had been administered, with a daily moving average of 12,096 doses, a 17.6% increase from the previous week's 10,284 doses. The national coverage rate for the fourth doses, however, does not increase, standing at 17% compared to 16.6% the previous week, with clear regional differences ranging from 7.7% in Sicily to 28.2% in Emilia-Romagna.
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