Importance of vaccines never in question says health min

(ANSA) - ROME, NOV 18 - The Importance of COVID-19 vaccines has never been in question, Health Minister Orazio Schillaci said Friday amid a row over a health undersecretary who appeared to say there was no proof vaccines worked.
    Health Undersecretary Marcello Gemmato sparked a row Tuesday by appearing to suggest that there was no proof that COVID-19 vaccines worked.
    Responding to a statement on Italian TV by Corriere della Sera deputy editor Aldo Cazzullo that "without vaccines (the pandemic) would have been worse", Gemmato said "that's what you say, but we don't have the onus of the reverse proof. I'm not falling into the trap of siding with or against vaccines".
    Gemmato said "for much of the pandemic Italy was top for mortality and third for lethality, and so I don't see great results having been achieved".
    Opposition politicians widely condemned Gemmato's statements and there were some quit calls, after which he walked back his statements saying that vaccines were "precious" and his words had been take out of context.
    On Friday Schillaci said "At no time has the importance of vaccination has been questioned by the government. And no initiative of mine will ever undermine the right to care and the defence of health'.
    He sided with his undersecretary in the row, saying "Undersecretary Gemmato denied the misinterpretation of his own statements." Schillaci added: "The vaccination campaign has prevented over 500 thousand hospitalisations and about 50 thousand deaths. The data confirm the importance of vaccination in preventing hospitalisations and deaths. Some 90.5 per cent of the population has completed the vaccination cycle in Italy'.
    He also said: "Never have I thought of abandoning the use of masks in hospitals and RSAs. As for the publication of daily aggregate data, I would like to point out that data collection continues to be daily and therefore only the publication of the data is weekly, but the data are always available". (ANSA).