Italy announced that it had reached its goal of having 80% of the population over 12 vaccinated, according to official data published Sunday.

Over 43 million people out of a population of about 60 million are now fully immunized.

Guido Rasi, a former director at the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and currently serving as an adviser to Italy's COVID-19 commissioner, said it was "not just a symbolic threshold."

"It's a level that, calculations show, correlates with a significant reduction in the circulation of the virus and a drastic cut in hospital admissions."

Despite the good news, Italy on Saturday saw  protests against vaccine passports escalate violently and turn into riots.