Italy is divided again over vaccines...a draft law returns “skeptics” to hospitals

Italy is facing renewed controversy over vaccines, after the House of Representatives approved a draft law allowing the reinstatement of health sector workers who were removed from professional records during the “Covid-19” pandemic. Due to serious violations related to their anti-vaccination positions, according to what was published by the British newspaper “The Guardian”.

According to the newspaper, the project raises concerns among doctors and experts about its repercussions on citizens’ confidence in vaccines, at a time when the country is witnessing an increase in measles infections and a decline in demand for influenza vaccination.

Antonio Cremasco was infected with the Covid-19 virus during a dinner party on March 6, 2020. Four days later, as Italy entered Europe's first nationwide lockdown, he was dying.

Cremasco, from the city of Bassano del Grappa in the Veneto region in northern Italy, said: “I spent 20 days in intensive care, followed by another 20 days in a hospital ward.”

After leaving the hospital, he needed oxygen therapy for an additional 6 months. His health experience was so harsh that he did not hesitate to receive the vaccine when it became available in Italy in early 2021, and he believes that the decision to be vaccinated saved his life again.

He said: “All those who were with me in intensive care died. “If it were not for the vaccine, my risk of death would also be high if I were infected with the virus again.”

But Cremasco, currently 76 years old, who recently received his annual dose of the Covid-19 vaccine and the seasonal influenza vaccine, had difficulty convincing his vaccine-skeptical son, a father of two children, of the safety of these medications. He said that he and his wife were wary of having their two grandchildren, who may not have received vaccines, in their home when the two children were sick, for fear of transmitting the infection to them.

The disagreements within the Cremasco family reflect a broader division over vaccination in Italy; A draft law approved by the House of Representatives last October brought the debate back to the political forefront.

The project allows health sector workers, who were removed from professional records during the pandemic due to serious violations linked to their anti-vaccination beliefs, to apply for re-registration. These violations include, for example, promoting treatments that lack a scientific basis.

The “Brothers of Italy” party, led by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, is defending the project, and enjoys strong support from its partner in the government coalition, the far-right “League” party.

But the division of the government's allies within the Forza Italia party made the passage of the project in the House of Representatives dependent on the support of the National Future Party, a rival far-right force led by former army general Roberto Fanacci, whose emergence has become influential on the political scene as next year's general elections approach.

Fanacci has expressed his opposition to mandating vaccination, and his speeches often target audiences skeptical of vaccines.

The project still needs Senate approval, and is scheduled to be voted on next January. However, its progress has alarmed medical experts, not only because the number of health workers involved is believed to be very limited; Rather, there is a fear that it will lead to a further decline in confidence in vaccines.

A report prepared by the Department of Public Health and Pediatric Sciences at the University of Turin, and published in the journal “Lancet Regional Health Europe” last February, stated that about half of adults in Italy are reluctant to receive vaccines.

The report was based on a sample of 50,000 adults across the country, and concluded that this hesitation is more related to misinformation and poor trust in institutions, than to concerns about vaccine safety.

The repercussions of this decline are clearly visible in health indicators. This year, Italy witnessed a resurgence of the spread of measles, with 472 infections recorded during the first five months, compared to 322 infections during the same period last year, according to Ministry of Health figures. More than half of the infections were recorded among young adults.

The demand for influenza vaccine among people aged 65 years and over also declined to 49.81 percent during the current season, which is the first time it has fallen below 50 percent since the winter of 2014-2015.

Last August, a 4-year-old girl died in the city of Palermo on the island of Sicily, as a result of contracting diphtheria. It was reported that her parents told the doctors that they had not vaccinated her; Because one of her cousins ​​has autism, and they believe that vaccines are the cause. There is no scientific evidence proving a relationship between autism and vaccines.

Roberta Silicini, head of the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine at the University of Turin and lead researcher on the report, said that this tragedy reminds everyone, “especially politicians,” of the responsibility they have to deliver the right messages about vaccines.

She warned that restoring the reputation of people who rejected scientific evidence could have a “devastating” impact on people’s views of vaccination.

But anti-vaccine messages continue to undermine confidence in them. On October 28, one day after the House of Representatives' vote, Claudio Borghi, a League politician, was criticized for hosting an anti-vaccine seminar in the Senate.

Later the same day, in what was seen as an indirect rebuke, Italian President Sergio Mattarella used a speech at a prominent cancer research gathering to condemn the spread of anti-vaccination messages, warning against “irrational beliefs” and “destructive fake news.”

Borghi had proposed reviewing a law passed in 2017 under the then leftist government, and expanding the number of mandatory childhood vaccines from 4 to 10, adding, for example, a vaccine against whooping cough.

Borghi defended his position, saying that he is not anti-vaxxers, but he believes that imposing mandatory vaccination “leads to provoking resistance.”

Regarding the project to return health workers who were removed from professional records during the pandemic, Burgi told The Guardian that the goal of the proposal is “to promote reconciliation after all these years.”

He added: “From our point of view; “No one should lose their job because of a personal belief.”

Vaccine skepticism took root in Italy in the late 1990s, as it did in other countries, mainly driven by proven claims about a link between the triple vaccine against: measles, mumps, and “rubella (MMR)” and autism.

The spread of social media has accelerated the circulation of information about vaccines. This contributed to a decline in immunization rates against preventable diseases, according to The Guardian.

The 2017 decision to make childhood vaccinations mandatory also emboldened anti-vaccination groups and provided a suitable platform for the rise of right-wing populist parties, including the Five Star Movement (M5S).

The “movement” continued to spread misleading information about vaccines after coming to power in 2018, before the facts of the pandemic forced a change in the tone of its rhetoric. Today, after moving to the opposition, she strongly criticizes the move to return anti-vaccine health workers to their jobs.