Shutterstock/Montebasso. All rights reserved.While the World Health Organisation warns of major measles outbreaks spreading across Europe, vaccination has stepped into national and EU political debate as a major health issue. Looking at the 2018 Italian general election, some candidates scrambled to deliver a clear position on this matter. Adopted last summer, a new Italian law on vaccines introduced 10 mandatory (and free of charge) vaccinations for preschool and school-age children. Parents now have to present vaccination certificates to schools which must notify the local health authorities when they fail to present those documents. The Democratic Party and Forza Italia political parties champion the so-called ‘Lorenzin Law’ while the right-wing Northern League and the 5 Star Movement call for immunizations to be left to parents’ discretion, regardless of WHO warnings on measles outbreaks.
France followed in Italian footsteps and made 11 vaccinations mandatory from January 1, 2018. As it was stated by French Prime Minister Édouard Philippe, it is unacceptable that children are still dying of measles in a country where some of the earliest vaccines were pioneered. Indeed, south west France has been recently hit by a measles epidemic: in the region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine since November the outbreaks have resulted in 269 confirmed cases of measles, of whom 66 were admitted to hospital for treatment. Even more worrying, the region has a too low vaccination rate to cope with the epidemic (between 70% and 81% of people are vaccinated, lower than the level recommended by the World Health Organisation – 95%).
The fall in public confidence in vaccines has become more and more of a challenge which has contributed to low rates of immunisation against the rise of highly contagious disease across Europe. Media controversies, some political propaganda and the spread of fake news (from big pharma conspiracy to autism) have fuelled a dangerous mistrust of vaccines.
