(CNN) ROME – Italy wants to start distributing a Covid-19 vaccine at the end of January, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said Monday during an interview on Italian television channel La7.
Conte added that the vaccine at the moment should not be administered on a mandatory basis but only voluntarily. The vaccine will be available first to the fragile and most exposed to danger, he said.
When asked if he would get vaccinated, Conte said he “will definitely do it,” because when it will be distributed it will be “absolutely safe.”
He also added he would not be among the first to be vaccinated since the “fragile and most exposed to danger need to have it first.”
The European Union has signed deals for the supply of millions of vaccine doses with multiple drugmakers, including AstraZeneca, Moderna and Pfizer.
Italy’s coronavirus death toll reached 50,043 on Monday after an increase of 630 fatalities in the previous 24 hours, the Italian health ministry said on Monday.
The ministry added that the number of cases had increased by 22,930 bringing the total number to 1,431,795.
Globally there are 1,390,516 coronavirus related deaths and Italy is ranked as the sixth highest in the world, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
