Italy makes childhood vaccinations mandatory
The Italian government said Friday a new law that makes a series of childhood vaccinations a school enrollment condition in a movement triggered by a peak of measles cases.
The move "will make some mandatory vaccinations which until now were simply recommended," Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni said after a cabinet meeting approved by the legislative decree.
Vaccines covering 12 common diseases will be needed to enroll children in day care centers and elementary school up to the age of six.
After this age, when school attendance becomes compulsory in Italy, parents will be subject to fines if their children are not vaccinated.
The 12 conditions to which children are to be protected are polio, diphtheria, tetanus, hepatitis B, hemophilus B (Hib), meningitis B and C, measles, rubella, mumps , Pertussis and chicken pox.
"We are sending a very strong message to the public," said Health Minister Beatrice Lorenzin.
The move came amid the reluctance on the part of the Ministry of Education and objections to the opposition Five Star Movement, which said the reform represents a gift for pharmaceutical companies.
Lorenzin pushed to change after the number of measles cases tripled, mainly due to the lack of vaccination of children.
His ministry has accused the shoulder of bad health threats that resulted in the number of two-year-old children vaccinated against the common disease falling from over 90 percent a few years ago to 85 percent in 2015.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends covering 95 percent to prevent dangerous epidemics.
Although it usually only triggers relatively mild symptoms, measles can lead to fatal complications. As the last major epidemic in Italy, there were 18,000 registered cases and 15 deaths.
The vaccine problem in Italy has been implicated in wider issues of misinformation and "false news", as the center-left administration accuses its populist rivals Five Star of selling.
Lorenzin last month scolded the public broadcaster Rai about a program that raises problems about the possible side effects of the vaccine against the virus that causes cervical cancer.
And Italy was one of the countries where a frightened discredit on the combined measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine being linked to autism earned the most money.
HEALTH COACH -
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