Italian PM urges boost in global COVID-19 vaccine production

ROME - Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi on Thursday appealed for a boost in global production of safe coronavirus vaccines, as the pandemic kept a stable curve in the country.

"Vaccines are a global common good," Draghi stressed in a statement issued by his office.

"The priority is to increase their production while ensuring their safety and removing the obstacles currently hampering vaccination campaigns at the same time."

As of May 6, the Italian vaccination campaign saw 22.3 million doses administered (82.9 percent of those currently available) and over 6.7 million people fully immunized.

Lately, after a slow start and several setbacks due to delivery delays by production companies, the campaign has shown progress, and for a few days last week it reached the target of 500,000 doses administered per day, according to coronavirus emergency commissioner Francesco Figliuolo.

On Thursday, Figliuolo's office announced the vaccination would open to people aged 50 and above, starting by May 10.

Meanwhile, 11,807 new coronavirus cases were recorded in Italy over the past 24 hours, according to the latest data by the Health Ministry.

The death toll increased by 258 new fatalities to 122,263.

Active infections kept an improving trend, dropping by 4,327 cases against Wednesday to 402,802. The large majority of those actively infected (383,627) currently remain isolated at home with mild or no symptoms. Another 16,867 people are hospitalized (down by 653 cases on a daily basis) and a further 2,308 in intensive care units (down by 60 cases).

With 15,867 new recoveries against the previous day, the total number of people cured since the pandemic broke out here in late February 2020 grew to over 3.55 million people, data also showed.

Considering active infections, deaths and recoveries, Italy has recorded over 4 million confirmed COVID-19 cases.