Vaccine-sceptic Italians dismiss entire board of health experts

ITALY’S populist coalition government has plunged its already confusing stance on vaccines into greater uncertainty by sacking a commission of health experts.

The decision was announced by Giulia Grillo, the health minister, who said it was “time to make room” for new people on the commission, which ministers usually turn to for advice.

“We are the government of change,” she said. “I have chosen to open the door to other deserving personalities.” However, it was not immediately clear who the replacements might be.

The government, which is made up of the hard-right League and the antiestablishment Five Star Movement, has sent out mixed signals about health policy, on the importance of vaccinations in particular, since it came to power in June. Both parties have been accused of peddling conspiracy theories about the supposed risks.

Matteo Salvini, Italy’s interior minister and deputy prime minister, has called them “useless and in many cases dangerous”, playing on discredited claims that the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) jab can cause autism.

The sacking of the commission was met with consternation by health experts and criticism from opposition parties. Roberta Siliquini, the outgoing president of the commission, said: “Given the quality of the members that make up the council, I don’t see any scientific reason for the decision.”

Dr Siliquini, who is the head of the school of hygiene and preventive medicine at the University of Turin, said she had never met the minister since the government was appointed in June.

Like the other members of the commission, Dr Siliquini was appointed last December by the previous, centreleft government. The panellists’ term was supposed to run for three years.