Why Is Italy ’s Government Trying to Overturn a Lifesaving Vaccination Law? Here’s What to Know

Italy’s parliament shocked the scientific community on Tuesday by voting to lift a legal requirement that parents vaccinate their children before sending them to pre-school. The move, driven by Italy’s new populist coalition government, has been widely criticized by doctors, who say vaccinations are essential to avoiding outbreaks of serious diseases like measles. Here’s what to know about the Italian government’s decision: What did the Italian government do with vaccines? Italian lawmakers in the upper house of parliament voted 148 to 110 to amend a law that required children under the age of 6 to undergo 10 routine vaccinations before enrolling in nurseries and pre-school. The law was introduced last year under the Democratic Party government during an outbreak of measles that saw the number of cases in Italy hit 5,004 in 2017 – up from 870 the year before. That gave Italy the second highest number of measles cases in Europe, after Romania. In response, lawmakers made it mandatory last July to vaccinate for measles, mumps, rubella, chicken pox and meningitis – all of which were previously only recommended. Why the U-turn on vaccines in Italy? Rightwing party the League and the leftwing populist Five Star Movement were both staunchly against the law that required vaccinations when it was introduced and campaigned on scrapping it ahead of elections in March. The anti-vax vote is significant in Italy, with widespread distrust of vaccinatio...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized Anti-Vaccines Italy Source Type: news