A small area in Sicily challenged the math by having a 104% vaccination rate, a figure that at first glance may seem strange.
Vaccination rates are calculated by the health authorities for the official population of a town or village and could theoretically increase above 100% if non-residents get the vaccine there. In Palazzo Adriano, a town and municipality of Arbëresh origin located on the northern slopes of Monte delle Rose, a good portion of the population has been vaccinated and will receive the third dose.
"It seems like an impossible statistic," Mayor Nicolò Granà told the Guardian proudly. "But, in fact, in Palazzo Adriano, those residents who live in our city have also been vaccinated, even though they are not official residents and other people living in neighboring villages."
"Last March, we feared the worst," said Salvatore Spata, 54, a village culture adviser. "A nun and a priest, coming from another city and who did not know they were positive, infected some residents, causing an explosion that affected about 16 residents. "Fortunately, the vaccination campaign started in those days."
He described the vaccination attempt as "a verbal campaign" making the most of Palazzo Adriano's human networks.
"At least one representative of each family in the village passes by the square every day. We took advantage of those intense relationships between relatives and friends to spread the vaccination campaign. "All we had to do was inform every person we met, reminding them to get vaccinated, and the next day, their relatives showed up at the lab to get the vaccine."
Where there were concerns about the vaccine, a WhatsApp group of hundreds of residents set up to discuss them. "In this group, we responded to fake news and reassured people about the safety of vaccines," Granà said. "I am convinced that if we had spread misinformation about the dangers of vaccines, we would be here today to tell you another story - that of dozens of deaths by Covid that would have halved the population."
