Italy to require COVID-19 health passes from all workers
People hold a banner reading " Liberty dont ask, on take" as they demonstrate against the introduction of a mandatory sanitary pass called "green pass" in the aim to limit the spread of the Covid-19, at the Piazza Porta Palazzo in central Turin on Se
ITALY - Italy is set to become the first nation in Europe to make COVID-19 health passes mandatory for all workers.
The digital vaccine certificates, known as "green passes," will show whether a person has been fully vaccinated, tested negative for the virus, or has recently recovered from the virus.
According to NPR, the certificates will be mandatory for all employees throughout the nation. Anyone who has not presented their health vaccine certificate to their employer by October 15 will face suspension without pay for up to five days, but will not be fired.
"We are extending the obligation of the green pass to the entire world of work, public and private, and we are doing so for two essential reasons: to make these places safer and to make our vaccination campaign even stronger," health minister Roberto Speranza told Euronews.
Unemployed people and anyone living on a pension will be exempt from showing the health pass, but anyone else who wants to eat indoors at restaurants or visit museums and gyms will need the pass.
So far, 74% of Italians have received at least one shot of the COVID-19 vaccine, and 68% are fully vaccinated. Over 130,000 people have died due to COVID-19 in the country since the pandemic began.
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