Italy’s populists roll back law enforcing vaccinations
ITALY’S populist government is moving to block a law that makes vaccinations obligatory for children, pursuing a highly contentious policy that has been strongly criticised by doctors, schools and medical associations.
A law passed by the previous centreleft government in March made it obligatory for parents to give their children 10 vaccinations if they wanted to enrol them in state schools.
But the Five Star Movement and The League, which make up the populist government that came to power in June, are deeply hostile to the law and have been accused of peddling widely-debunked conspiracy theories about the supposed risks of having the jabs.
The upper house of parliament has approved an amendment that will postpone the introduction of the law by a year, until the start of the 20192020 school year.
The lower house will vote on the issue after the summer break.
Matteo Salvini, the interior minister and head of The League, has been particularly critical of vaccinations, calling them “useless and in many cases dangerous,” playing on fears that they can cause autism.
Some schools have said they will turn away children who are not fully vaccinated because of the risk of disease being spread to other pupils.
But Mr Salvini and his Five Star partners say they are determined that children who have not had the jabs should be allowed to attend school.
Many medical professionals and the leaders of some of Italy’s 20 regions are aghast at the stance. They say it will send Italy “back to the Middle Ages” and could lead to the return of diseases that until now had been under control.
As Italian parents question whether their children should have the jabs, there has been a sharp rise in the prevalence of measles, with 5,000 cases last year, up from around 900 in 2016.