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Covid-19 vaccines

How to try to get a Covid-19 vaccine without a health card in your region of Italy

The Local Italy
The Local Italy - [email protected]
Published: 10 Jun, 2021 CET. Updated: Sat 24 Jul 2021 11:05 CET
How to try to get a Covid-19 vaccine without a health card in your region of Italy
A resident speaks with medical workers before receiving a coronavirus disease Covid-19 vaccine aboard a Venice public waterbus "Vaporetto" during a vaccination campaign for elderly residents, on April 5, 2021. - The one-day-only vaccination hub is designed for residents 80 year old and up of two islands in the Venetian Lagoon, Sant'Erasmo and Le Vignole. (Photo by ANDREA PATTARO / AFP)

Italy has promised to offer Covid-19 vaccines to anyone who wants them, but people outside the public healthcare system continue to have difficulty making an appointment. With different regional systems in place, here's what to do if you're struggling to book a shot in your part of the country.

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Italy's vaccination campaign is being run by the country's 21 separate regional health services, so the process of getting a jab can vary significantly from region to region.

And while the national government hasn't advised on a standard procedure for people who aren't enrolled in the public system and therefore don't have a tessera sanitaria, or healthcare card, some regions have started to provide more flexible options to register for a shot.

READ ALSO: ‘Be tenacious as hell’: How people in Italy have managed to get vaccinated without a health card

Based on our research as well as what we've been told by readers around Italy, here are the options available to you if you need to book a vaccine without a tessera sanitaria. 

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Abruzzo

  • Call the regional helpline: 800 00 99 66
  • Email for assistance: <[email protected]>
  • Text your codice fiscale to 339 9903947 and wait to be called back
  • Contact your local health authority (ASL): find a list here
  • Ask a doctor or pharmacist for advice

Basilicata

  • Call the regional helpline: 800 00 99 66
  • Contact your local health authority (ASL): find a list here
  • Ask a doctor or pharmacist for advice

Calabria

  • Call the regional helpline: 800 00 99 66
  • Email for assistance: <[email protected]>
  • Text your codice fiscale to 339 9903947 and wait to be called back
  • Contact your local health authority (ASL): find a list here
  • Ask a doctor or pharmacist for advice

Campania

  • Contact your local health authority (ASL): find a list here
  • Ask a doctor or pharmacist for advice

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Emilia-Romagna

  • Try to request an appointment online using your codice fiscale: click here
  • Contact your local health authority (ASL): find a list here
  • Ask a doctor or pharmacist for advice

Friuli-Venezia Giulia

  • Call the regional helpline: 0434 223522
  • Contact your local health authority (ASL): find a list here
  • Ask a doctor or pharmacist for advice

Lazio

  • Call the regional helpline: 06 164 161 841
  • Contact your local health authority (ASL): find a list here
  • Ask a doctor or pharmacist for advice

Liguria

  • Call the regional helpline: 800 938 883
  • Follow your local health authority's instructions for people not enrolled in the regional health service: details here 
  • Contact your local health authority's vaccination assistance service: find a list here
  • Ask a doctor or pharmacist for advice

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Lombardy

  • Try booking online using a valid European Health Insurance Card (EHIC): click here
  • Call the regional helpline: 800 894 545
  • Contact your local health authority (ATS): find a list here
  • Ask a doctor or pharmacist for advice

Marche

  • Call the regional helpline: 800 00 99 66
  • Contact your local health authority (ASUR): find a list here
  • Ask a doctor or pharmacist for advice

Molise

  • Call the regional helpline: 0874 1866000
  • Email for assistance: <[email protected]>
  • Contact your local health authority (ASREM): find a list here
  • Ask a doctor or pharmacist for advice

Piedmont

  • Call the regional helpline: 800 95 77 95
  • Contact your local health authority (ASL): find a list here
  • Ask a doctor or pharmacist for advice

Puglia

  • Call the regional helpline: 800 713931
  • Try to request an appointment by filling in this online form: click here
  • Contact your local health authority (ASL): find a list here
  • Ask a doctor or pharmacist for advice

Sardinia

  • Call the regional helpline: 800 00 99 66
  • Email for assistance: <[email protected]>
  • Contact your local health authority (ATS): find a list here
  • Ask a doctor or pharmacist for advice

Sicily

  • Call the regional helpline: 800 00 99 66
  • Email for assistance: <[email protected]>
  • Email your local health authority's vaccination assistance service: find a list here under 'Assistenza prenotazioni'
  • Call your local health authority (ASP): find a list here
  • Ask a doctor or pharmacist for advice
  • In Palermo: book an appointment at the Fiera del Mediterraneo vaccination hub with just a codice fiscale (or even without one): click here 

Autonomous province of Trento

  • Call the provincial helpline: 800 867 388
  • Contact your local health authority (APSS): find details here
  • Ask a doctor or pharmacist for advice

Autonomous province of Bolzano

  • Call the provincial helplines: 0472 973850 or 0471 100999
  • Contact booking assistance using this online form: click here
  • Contact your local health authority (ASDAA): find details here
  • Ask a doctor or pharmacist for advice

Tuscany

  • Book online using a codice fiscale: click here
  • Call the regional helpline: 800 11 77 44
  • Contact your local health authority (USL): find a list here
  • Ask a doctor or pharmacist for advice

Umbria

  • Book online using a codice fiscale: click here
  • Call the regional helpline: 800 192 835
  • Contact your local health authority (USL): find a list here
  • Ask a doctor or pharmacist for advice

Valle D’Aosta

  • Call the regional helpline: 0165 546222
  • Contact your local health authority (AUSL): find details here
  • Ask a doctor or pharmacist for advice

Veneto

  • Book online using a valid European Health Insurance Card (EHIC): click here
  • Call the regional helpline: 800 462 340
  • Contact your local health authority (ULSS): find a list here
  • Ask a doctor or pharmacist for advice

Wherever in Italy you are, you should...

  • Check the websites of your regional health service as well as the local health authority for your province or city: they may be running vaccination drives that don't require appointments. Find links here.

  • Be prepared to argue your case, including once you get to the vaccination centre.

  • If the operator you're speaking to seems unsure of what to do, suggest they try a registrazione libera using your codice fiscale.

  • Ask someone to call on your behalf or accompany you if you need help.

  • Refer operators to the guidance from Italy’s medicines agency AIFA, which says that vaccination is open to “All persons residing or otherwise present on the Italian territory, with or without a residence permit or identity documents, including holders of the STP (Stranieri Temporaneamente Presenti) or ENI (European Non Iscritto) code, holders of the numerical tax code Codice Fiscale or those without one, holders of an expired health card and those who fall into the categories periodically updated by the Vaccination Plan”. Have the page ready on your smartphone: find the link in Italian here.

  • Refer operators to Ordinance 3/2021 from Italy’s Covid-19 Emergency Commission, which states: “each Region or Autonomous Province should proceed to vaccinate not only its resident population but also people domiciled on regional territory for reasons of work or family necessity, or any other justified and proven reason that requires their continuous presence in the Region or Autonomous Province.”

The Local is continuing to follow this issue and has contacted the Italian health ministry and Covid-19 emergency commission. We will post any updates on how readers may be able to get vaccinated without a health card as soon as we get them.

Find all of our reporting on Italy’s vaccination campaign here.

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Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.

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Anonymous 2021/08/25 14:42
My partner and I live in Tuscany and we have also sent many emails and made many phone calls, because we do not have a tessera sanitaria but a private health insurance. We were advised to get vaccinated in another region, or to get the vaccination in the Netherlands. But we thought this was such a strange advice, surely it should be possible to get the vaccination in Tuscany? We got vaccinated last Monday in Arezzo (Tuscany), after having sent a rather desperate mail to the mayor's office of Arezzo a week before. After that it was arranged in no time, we just had to give our telephone number and our codice fiscale. We are very grateful to the municipality of Arezzo for helping us so well and quickly!
  • Anonymous 2021/11/20 08:24
    Thank you for this very valuable information. Can you tell me if you had any issues obtaining a Green Pass having been vaccinated in Arezzo? We live in Lucca and wonder if we could have issues in this area. Thanks for your help.
Anonymous 2021/08/14 07:39
Bari Region, Puglia. Finally secured our Covid 19 vaccination without a Tessera Sanitaria after multiple emails, visits to hospitals, clinics, doctors, all ignored or turned away. All thanks to a very kind doctor in Locorotondo ASL who had no trouble in making arrangements for us to visit the vaccination centre in Alberobello. Once the personal information form was filled in myself and wife had the Pfizer jab and a 2nd appointment made. Why was that so difficult for the Bari ASL? I really don’t understand and why were 90% of my emails completely ignored even by government health websites, inviting you to email them? If the government want everyone vaccinated they need to wake up and get systems in place to accommodate everyone, not just those with a valid Tessera Sanitaria.
Anonymous 2021/08/13 14:29
I managed to get a vaccine without a tessera by registering in Lombardy and travelling to Cremona from Tuscany. I took everything with me but I think they only looked at my codice fiscale and appointment confirmation (which you can make without a tessera sanitaria). My wife was also vaccinated using the same process. If you can make it to Lombardy, stop over for a night and get the jab. It's worth the hassle.
Anonymous 2021/07/24 20:55
I live in Milan. I have been able to book vaccination using my Codice Fiscale. Method: Go to Lombardy Region COVID-19 vaccination page. Under the Foreign section, register your details using Codice Fiscale. I waited for over a week then received sms that I can register for vaccination. Also In the Lombardy region, over 60s can now just turn up to a vaccination centre. No booking is required.
Anonymous 2021/07/07 15:18
It turns out Tuscany's vaccine offer to non-SSN-registered people only applies to: diplomats, employees of EU institutions and international organisations (unspecified) and Italians residing abroad who are temporarily back in Italy (AIRE registered )
Anonymous 2021/06/25 18:59
Tuscany continues to ask for a tessara sanitaria on its web site. We have found no way though it (no-one knows anything) and a tessera will take a long time to process. We took out expensive private health insurance, as asked for when applying for residency last year, and they are completely ignoring us.

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