Red Cross staff in Italy are being suspended from ambulance duty if they have not had the coronavirus vaccine, it has been revealed.
The news was made public after it was confirmed that two staff in the town on Feltre in northern Italy were suspended from ambulance service for refusing to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
In the words of the president of the local committee, Andrea Zabot, there may be others that are also taken off active duty, saying: “There are only two cases at present, but there could be more”.
He said that working for the Red Cross in Italy is completely voluntary with staff unpaid, so there is no legal way “to force” them to get vaccinated.
But they can be removed from front line duty as they are considered to be a threat to patients and themselves.
Andrea Zabot added that the suspended volunteers were in the position of first-aid nurses and after being contacted by several local newspapers one of them spoke to Il Gazzettino saying: “I didn’t know two of us are suspended. I don’t have anything to comment on the decision. I want to hear directly from my president.”
Volunteers affected by the ban will no longer be able to provide direct assistance to patients but they will be assigned to other activities, for the time being, “until the pandemic ends or there is no longer the danger of getting COVID-19.”
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Story By: Tijana Milikj, Sub-Editor: Marija Stojkoska, Agency: Newsflash
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