Mario Draghi - Central News Hub

Italian PM Mario Draghi resigns amid political crisis

Mattarella had asked him to remain as caretaker leader until early elections, expected this autumn…reports Asian Lite News

Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi officially resigned on Thursday after he failed to revive his coalition government, putting an end to his national unity government after 17 months in office.

Draghi told President Sergio Mattarella that he failed to reunite his coalition government as three parties in his government refused to back him in a confidence vote on Wednesday, BBC reported.

Mattarella had asked him to remain as caretaker leader until early elections, expected this autumn.

Draghi, 74, was dubbed Super Mario for his handling of the eurozone crisis as head of the European Central Bank.

However, a week ago, one of the parties in his government refused to back his economic package prompting a political crisis.

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Italy PM receives AstraZeneca jab

Draghi and his wife Maria Serenella Cappello, both 73, received the vaccine at a centre in Termini, Rome’s main train station…reports Asian Lite News

Italy is still among the countries with more than 2 million coronavirus cases with 3,561,012 cases as per the latest reports. Italy’s Prime Minister Mario Draghi received his first dose of AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine on Tuesday — the same product that his government had decided to temporarily halt the use of earlier this month.

Draghi and his wife Maria Serenella Cappello, both 73, received the vaccine at a centre in Termini, Rome’s main train station, Xinhua news agency reported.

The AstraZeneca is one of the three approved vaccines for use in Italy, together with those produced by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna. Of the three, AstraZeneca’s has been the most controversial after reports of it causing blood clots that resulted in two deaths in Italy. After the second death, the use of the vaccine was suspended for four days ending March 19.

Having investigated the reports, Nicola Magrini, director general of Italy’s main medical authority (AIFA) said the suspension was a “political” decision and he declared the vaccine safe to use.

AstraZeneca vaccine

According to Italian media, Draghi’s aim with choosing the AstraZeneca jab was to build public confidence in the vaccine after reports about its side effects.

As of Tuesday, 9.8 million Italians have received at least the first dose of one of the three approved vaccines, while the number of fully-vaccinated individuals — those who have received two doses — totaled 3.1 million, or around 5.1 per cent of the country’s population.

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