Six members of the same family who were too “afraid” to get the COVID-19 vaccine have died from the coronavirus in the space of a month.

Six unvaccinated members of the same family have died from COVID-19 in their hometown of Pietraperzia (population 6,424) in the province of Enna in the Italian region of Sicily in the space of just over a month.

The first to succumb was the father, aged 80, who died at home following the arrival of the emergency services, who were unable to save him.

The last to die was one of his daughters, aged 52, who succumbed on Friday, 4th February.

The others to die were the mother, aged 78, a son, aged 50, another daughter, aged 55, as well as the latter’s mother-in-law, aged 91.

They passed away at the Umberto I Hospital in the provincial capital Enna, where they had been admitted in December in serious conditions.

The 55-year-old victim’s daughter Noemi, aged 25, told La Sicilia: “We are devastated. We have lost everything.”

She also told the newspaper that none of the deceased had been vaccinated against the coronavirus.

She said: “They were afraid because they had friends and acquaintances who had suffered consequences from the vaccine and, therefore, they had all decided not to get it.”

Emanuele Cassara, medical director at the Umberto I Hospital, said: “This family tragedy shows that the only weapon to avoid such dire consequences is the vaccine.”

Pietraperzia mayor Salvuccio Messina has sent condolences to the victims’ grieving relatives on behalf of the city council.