Italy requires coronavirus vaccines for people 50 and older

The Italian government is making it obligatory for people 50 or older to be vaccinated against the coronavirus

ROME -- The Italian government approved a measure Wednesday requiring people older than 50 to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, as the country struggles with nearly daily new records of fresh infections fueled by the omicron variant.

Earlier in the day, 189,000 new infections were confirmed in the country of some 59 million people.

“We want to put the brakes on the growth of the curve of contagion and push Italians who are still not vaccinated to do so," Prime Minister Mario Draghi was quoted by an official in his office as telling his ministers at a Cabinet meeting Wednesday evening.

The Cabinet voted unanimously to impose the mandate, which Public Administration Minister Renato Brunetta said puts Italy in the vanguard in Europe in cracking down on those who refuse to be vaccinated and who now account for the majority of patients in Italy’s rapidly filling ICU beds.