The Italian experience: includes a health certificate showing vaccination status

Italy – once overwhelmed by COVID-19 – turns to a health pass and stricter measures to contain virus Italians must now present a form of vaccine passport called a 'Green Pass' to enter many indoor establishments. Xinhua News Agency via Getty ImagesCases of COVID-19 are surging around the world, but the course of the pandemic varies widely from country to country. To provide you with a global view as we approach a year and a half since the official declaration of the pandemic, editors from The Conversation around the world commissioned articles looking at specific countries and where they are no Sara Belligoni, Ph.D. Candidate in Security Studies, University of Central Florida YahooNews

Cases of COVID-19 are surging around the world, but the course of the pandemic varies widely from country to country. To provide you with a global view as we approach a year and a half since the official declaration of the pandemic, editors from The Conversation around the world commissioned articles looking at specific countries and where they are now in combating the pandemic.

Here, Sara Belligoni, a public policy scholar now visiting Rome who wrote for us about the devastating wave of cases in Italy in early 2020, reports on the country’s increasingly stringent rules to encourage vaccination and bring daily life closer to prepandemic times. You can see the whole collection of articles here.

Italy was the first Western democratic country that faced the COVID-19 crisis. In early 2020, as parts of the country were being overwhelmed with coronavirus cases, some media outlets argued that the Italian government had taken too long to impose restrictive measures to fight the spread of the coronavirus.

But Italy has learned several lessons since its first national lockdown on March 9, 2020, and now – a year and a half after that first crushing wave of COVID-19 cases – the country has put in place measures that in some cases are more stringent than in other countries, including the United States.

With these new protocols in place – notably, a health certificate to show vaccination status for certain activities – daily life is moving toward what many people call a new normal. Despite some opposition, Italians support these measures, even when they come with a degree of discomfort or extra steps. ...