Italy is starting to distribute a batch of 184,000 doses of Johnson & Johnson's Janssen COVID-19 vaccine to its regions on Wednesday. Like the AstraZeneca jab, the Italian authorities are recommending the Johnson & Johnson vaccine only be given to over-60s after the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said it could be linked to some highly rare cases of blood clots in younger people.
The EMA also stressed that the benefits of the vaccine outweighed the risks.
The batch had been put into storage at a military airport near Rome, pending the EMA's verdict.
Unlike other COVID vaccines, only one dose of the Johnson & Johnson jab is required.
Francesco Paolo Figliuolo also said in a statement on Wednesday that 1.5 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine were arriving at airports all over the country.
Italy has given out almost 16 million COVID vaccine shots so far and over 4.6 million people are fully vaccinated after having had two doses.
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