Sipps paediatricians: “Yes to compulsory vaccination, it protects the health of citizens”

Giuseppe Di Mauro: "It represents a barrier against potentially fatal diseases"

ROME – “Vaccinations represent one of the most effective tools in the prevention of infectious diseases. It has been definitively demonstrated that their role is fundamental in guaranteeing the health and well-being of children strong>”. The response from the Italian Society of Preventive and Social Paediatrics to Claudio Borghi was not long in coming: the senator of the League has in fact presented an amendment to the waiting list decree that he wants abolish the obligation of pediatric vaccinations. In the event of the green light, vaccinations would only remain recommended.
The Sipps paediatricians, therefore, are united in favor of compulsory vaccination. They do so during their XXXVI National Congress, which closed today at the Palazzo degli Affari in Florence. The mandatory vaccination, in fact, is the measure that in Italy has guaranteed the protection of the entire population through effective vaccination coverage which must be at least 95%.

In historical periods in which the obligation was suspended, vaccination coverage decreased and epidemic outbreaks immediately occurred, which led to its recent reintroduction, with an immediate recovery of protection levels.
“Vaccinations – the president of Sipps, Giuseppe Di Mauro, explains to the Dire agency – protect the little ones from numerous and serious pathologies, many of which have no possibility of cure and are potentially fatal: I am referring to measles, whooping cough, polio and also influenza“.
There was also action against the senator from the Northern League Rocco Russo, pediatrician from Benevento, head of the technical table on vaccinations for the Italian Society of Paediatrics. Russo immediately launched a petition on theChange.org website (https://www.change.org/p/non-%C3%A8-il-momento-di-abolire-la-legge-sull-associazione- vaccination-for-measles), in which he states that “it is not the time to abolish the law on compulsory vaccination for measles”.
“Thanks to vaccines – adds Maria Carmen Verga , Sipps National Secretary– many of these diseases, once common and devastating, are now rare or have been completely eliminated in many parts of the world. Prevention is always preferable to treatment, asinfectious diseases can cause long-term complications or even death“.
When a sufficiently high percentage of a population is vaccinated, community immunity or ‘herd immunity’ is created. “This phenomenon – highlights Luigi Terracciano, treasurer of Sipps – also protects those who cannot be vaccinated, such as newborns who are too young to receive some vaccinations or people who, at any age, have diseases that involve contraindications. Vaccination, therefore, is not just a personal choice, but an act of responsibility towards the whole of society“.
The Sipps paediatricians also remind us that the vaccines currently in use they are the result of decades of research and development and are subjected to rigorous safety and effectiveness controls. The real risk for people are diseases and not thevery rare side effects of vaccines.
The abolition of compulsory vaccination – recalls the Italian Society of Preventive Pediatrics and Social – also has a strong communicative value that casts a shadow on the effectiveness, safety and real usefulness of this fundamental preventive measure.
“In a reality in which people are continually confused by so much false information and potentially negatively influenced from the disinformation of the no-vax movements – the Sipps experts denounce -, the abolition of the obligation by the government can be seen as an endorsement of these aberrations, which they are dangerous for individual citizens and for the entire society which would lose important protection”.
Last but not least, preventing diseases through vaccinations is also economically advantageous. The cost of a vaccination is in fact infinitely lower than the treatment of a serious pathology and also the burden of pain for families and children overwhelmed by a disease that can be avoided with a simple vaccination.
“Infectious diseases – concludes Di Mauro – can involve the use of prolonged hospitalizations, can lead to expensive treatments and can have a significant economic impact on families and on the entire society. Vaccinations therefore contribute to keeping the overall cost of our Service low national health service“.