ITALY: Leaders Salvini, Di Maio Make Good On Campaign Promise to Cancel Country’s Forced Childhood Vaccine Law

“The Italian senate overturned the country’s mandatory vaccination law Monday, effectively ending required vaccinations for children, according to the Financial Times. The law, which requires children to have 10 vaccinations before attending school, was originally implemented this March after measles cases spiked in the country. But the Five Star Movement and the League, two anti-establishment groups that formed a ruling coalition two months ago, campaigned on ending it—and with Monday’s 148-110 vote in the upper house of parliament, they are close to success. The overturning amendment must now be passed by the lower house; in the meantime, parents will not have to provide proof of vaccination before their children attend school.” 
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A 2015 government plan in Italy aimed to boost vaccination rates and introduce a series of new vaccines triggering protests among Italian citizens. The National Vaccination Plan for 2016–18 would instantly make Italy a European frontrunner in vaccination. At the time, many questioned the sudden vaccine push. Some suspected the hand of Big Pharma behind the government’s new plan which was confirmed when the Italian Medicines Agency (AIFA) suspended Sergio Pecorelli, the president of its board and one of the authors of the new plan, because of his conflicts of interest with Big Pharma. 

Italy’s 2017 Lorenzin Decree raised the mandatory vaccines from 3 to 10 for any child in public schools and daycares. The Decree was rushed through in the face of massive, sustained protests in multiple Italian cities. Why Italy? Over the last decade the county has become a European stronghold for global vaccine makers. In 2015 GlaxoSmithKline announced plans to invest more than €1 billion in Italy over the next four years for “the construction of new plants” and to “reinforce product lines.” Meanwhile in 2017 Merck announced it was investing € 35 Million into an Italian production site in Bari specializing in injectable medicine technology.

In 2016 a bill was approved by the Italian Senate of the Republic that allowed the testing of medical products [vaccinations] on the public. The Initiative relaxed the standards and research protections regarding clinical trials of medicines, including vaccinations, and set in motion the reorganization of the Italian healthcare system. 

Enter Right Wing Coalition hopeful Matteo Salvini. The populist leader was elected in May of 2018 after having campaigned on the promise to return vaccine choice back to the parents by canceling the Lorenzin Decree. During the run-up to the election, Salvini was not shy about his position tweeting mandatory vaccination represented “a gift to the multinationals [corporations].”

An independent university study out of Rome polled 6000 people weeks before the election and found that for 22 percent, removing mandatory vaccines was a priority. Italy’s election process repressed the first time in history the world watched vaccine choice become a hot button issue comprising a large voting block of people able to sway an election. Appearing far from an empty promise, Salvini reiterated his focus in a recent interview announcing unvaccinated children will have access to school in September “because the only ones who have to choose for their children are the parents.“

The recent process of overturning Italy’s mandatory vaccine law represents a line in the sand for parental rights. The move is also a significant action signaling  a monumental to prove large swaths of the population do not want government involved, through use of force, in their medical decisions.   
The trend is becoming clear that, on the global stage, the further governments and health agencies use heavy-handed mandates to force medical interventions [vaccines], equal reactions are opposing them. Manifesting in the will and actions of people throughout the world reflexively as a symbolic indication that parental choice, bodily autonomy and informed consent can and will never be extinguished. 

The scientific consensus about the safety and efficacy of vaccination no longer exists. Vaccine manufacturers and their sympathizers are racing for the finish line in one last grasping effort to mandate their failing products through government force. At the same time, research from around the globe continues to reveal the shortcomings of current vaccine schedules.