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Legislative Decree Italy introduces vaccination for children in twelve diseases
The Italian government has decided to vaccinate children after a measles epidemic. This applies to a total of twelve diseases. Parents who do not abide by it face severe penalties. In other countries, too, a possible measles vaccination obligation has been considered for some years.
Fight against measles viruses
In a recent study on health care Germany occupies only the 20th place. One reason for this, according to the authors, is that the fight against measles viruses in Germany is less successful than in other states. The measles eradication was slowed down again. To win the fight against the viruses, according to health experts, more people would need to be vaccinated. Therefore, it is also discussed again and again about measles vaccination. In Germany, there is no such one, in Italy, the government has now passed a law on mandatory vaccinations for children.
In Italy, a law on compulsory vaccinations for children was issued. The vaccination requirement applies to a total of twelve diseases, including measles and mumps. (Image: Konstantin Yuganov / fotolia.com) Vaccination for twelve diseases
Compulsory vaccination covers a total of twelve diseases, including measles, meningitis, tetanus, polio, mumps, whooping cough and chickenpox, said Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, according to news agency AFP.
According to the information, unvaccinated children under the age of six years will not be admitted to nursery, kindergarten or preschool classes. Furthermore, parents of school-age children over the age of six who are not vaccinated must pay high fines.
It is said that the decision was taken by the measles epidemic, which has been rampant since the beginning of the year. While 860 illnesses were registered in the whole of the past year, this year alone there were 2,395 cases by mid-May. About nine out of ten of the patients were therefore not vaccinated.
Populists speak of "gift for the pharmaceutical industry"
For weeks, Italy's Health Minister Beatrice Lorenzin had been campaigning for the measure.
Not only against the partial resistance from the Ministry of Education, but above all against the protest of the populist five-star movement, which sees in the law a "gift for the pharmaceutical industry".
Lorenzin had spoken of a "very strong message to the people".
Although measles are usually relatively harmless, the disease can also be fatal. In Italy, 15 patients died in 2002 during the last major measles epidemic, with 18,000 registered cases.
No vaccination in Germany
In Germany, there is no compulsory vaccination against measles - and not against other diseases. Although a majority of Germans would welcome this, many experts are against it. They rely more on education than vaccination.
There are many critics and skeptics. "It is justified to demand special care in vaccination and also to dispute controversial issues critically - not least because vaccinations are among the most common medical measures at all," writes the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) on its website.
The RKI experts, together with their colleagues from the Paul Ehrlich Institute, explain the "20 most frequent objections to vaccination"..
It is clear: "Vaccinations differ from other medical interventions. On the one hand, they are not only aimed at the benefit of the individual, but also at the protection of the whole population. On the other hand, they are carried out by healthy people. "
Protecting yourself and others from diseases
Vaccination measures protect not only yourself but others as well. This can also prevent deaths, as shown repeatedly in measles diseases of infants.
Health experts recommend the measles vaccine for children from the eleventh month of life, for infants in a daycare from the ninth month.
Adults should check their measles vaccine protection. Mothers who have antibodies due to a vaccine or a former measles disease can protect their children from measles and other infectious diseases in the first few months. (Ad)