London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Sep 18, 2025

‘Up to 80%’ of people in Sicily refusing AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine over safety concerns

‘Up to 80%’ of people in Sicily refusing AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine over safety concerns

The vast majority of people offered the Oxford/AstraZeneca anti-Covid vaccine Vaxzevria on the southern Italian island of Sicily are refusing to take it, according to the region’s president, Nello Musumeci.
“In Sicily, there is an 80% refusal rate of the AstraZeneca vaccine. Every 100 people, 80 say no,” Musumeci said late Saturday night, according to media reports.

He added that it is “natural” for people to be hesitant about the vaccine – recently rebranded as Vaxzevria – but they must believe scientists when they tell them that “it is more dangerous not to get vaccinated than to get vaccinated.”

In a Sunday statement, a spokesperson for the president attempted to clear up the comments, saying Musumeci meant to say “up to 80 percent” are refusing the vaccine, as some regions have a much lower refusal rate, such as Syracuse, where just 30% apparently feared the vaccine enough to say no.

Mucumeci’s announcement followed advice earlier this week from the European Medicines Agency that blood clots should be listed as a “very rare” side-effect of the Vaxzevria. It had examined 86 cases of vaccinated individuals developing blood clots, 18 of which ended fatally.

AstraZeneca responded to the recommendation by saying it was “actively collaborating with regulators” to “implement these changes to the product information.” It referred to the clotting cases as “extremely rare events.”

Though it’s unknown exactly why blood clots can develop post-immunization, researchers in Norway and Germany have said those who developed them had antibodies that reacted negatively to the vaccine, and they had been primarily prevalent in younger individuals.

Vaxzevria has been put on pause in multiple countries. Germany, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Portugal, and Spain have recommended only people aged over 60 receive the widely distributed shot, while France and Canada have recommended alternative vaccines for younger people.

Franco Locatelli, a health adviser to the Italian government on Covid-19, said on Sunday that Vaxzevria is “safe and effective,” but added, “If we find ourselves facing a disarming number of defections, we will reconsider the issue.”

Italy, one of the countries hit worst by the pandemic, has vaccinated nearly four million citizens thus far – approximately 6% of its population of 60 million.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Massive Strikes in France Pressure Macron and New PM on Austerity Proposals
Trump Seeks Supreme Court Permission to Remove Fed Governor Lisa Cook
Hillary Clinton’s Reckless Rhetoric Fuels Division After Charlie Kirk’s Assassination
NASDAQ Rises to Record as Intel Soars More Than 20%, Nvidia Gains 3%
Nvidia’s $5 Billion Bet on Intel Reshapes AI Hardware Landscape
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Trump’s Quip on Biden and Google Lawsuit Revives Debate Over Antitrust Legacy
Macron and his wife to provide 'scientific photographic evidence' that she is a real woman
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
Effective and Impressive Generation Z Protest: Images from the Riots in Nepal
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Trump: Cancel quarterly company reports and settle for reporting once every six months
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
US Launches New Pilot Program to Accelerate eVTOL Air Taxi Deployment
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
×