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Protest against Italy’s Green Passport in Turin last month. Some people in the country have gotten more creative in their quest to avoid vaccinations.Credit…Tino Romano / EPA, via Shutterstock

On Thursday morning, at a vaccination center in Biella, Italy, an experienced nurse was faced with something she had never seen before.

The nurse, Filippa Bua, was preparing to give a man a dose of Covid vaccine when she realized that the small arm patch he was offering in a gap between his sweatshirt and t-shirt looked a lot rosier than his Face.

When she touched it, she realized what was going on.

“Rubber foam,” said Ms. Bua, 59. “It was made of rubber foam.”

Sister Filippa Bua at a vaccination center in Biella, Italy, on Friday.Credit…Margherita Borello / ASL Biella

The man, whose identity was not disclosed for privacy reasons, was wearing a thick theater corset that was covered with rubber foam and to which two foam arms were attached, according to Ms. Bua. She added that it was “pretty well done”. His goal is to get a vaccination card so that he can go to work without a vaccination.

The strategy was the latest and perhaps the most original episode of the vaccine escape in the struggle between the Italian government and the country’s anti-vaccine faction. Italy seems to have fewer vaccine skeptics than other European countries, but apparently some in this camp are very determined.

About 13 percent of Italy’s adult population have not received a single injection, and cases have been increasing since mid-October.

Source: Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University. The daily average is calculated using data reported over the last seven days.

The country has taken several measures to encourage skeptics to get a vaccine. It was the first in Europe to mandate vaccinations for medical workers and then generally required that people get a health certificate or green pass, participate in many social activities and go to work.

Last week Italy announced that people would need proof of vaccination to sit in bars and restaurants and requested the same proof from all hospital staff, teachers and law enforcement officers.

But those who fought vaccination got more creative. There have been reports of fake health IDs trafficking in Telegram groups and anti-vaccination users who injected their patients with saline instead of a vaccine in order to obtain a certificate.

Trying to get vaccinated with a wrong arm, however, is perhaps the daringest plan that has ever come up.

Ms. Bua said that following the expansion of vaccination regulations, more patients showed up for their first vaccinations, albeit mostly with sluggish feet. Some told them to inject them quickly, some cried, and some cursed the government or their children for forcing them on the vaccination line.

The foam-poor man, on the other hand, was pleasant and relaxed, she said, although her own reaction was anything but.

“It was so humiliating,” said Ms. Bua, “to think that a nurse can’t tell the difference between rubber foam and skin.”

The health authorities reported the incident to the police. Alberto Cirio, President of the Piedmont region where Biella is located, said the episode was “enormously serious and unacceptable given the sacrifices our community is making due to the pandemic”.

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/12/03/world/omicron-variant-covid