Grillo confirms controversial self-certification vaccines

Giulia Grillo

ROME – Italy’s Health Minister Giulia Grillo will go ahead on the announced plan and confirm that parents can self-certify their children’s vaccinations in the next academic year; however, many members of parliament and health officials are not in agreement, political sources said on Friday.

 There is a collision on obligatory vaccinations for those that attend school. “The self-certification method has been used throughout 2017 so I don’t understand this controversy,” Grillo said. “We will use it in 2018 too because there is no national registry for vaccinations and we don’t want to burden citizens more, forcing them to complete all the documentation.

 “We remind the population that false certificates are punishable by law. I find all this controversy really surreal. I won’t enter into it. The self-certification act was carried out by the prior government and is one we will follow through with.

 “This law was passed by the majority. We also foresee flexible measures depending on location, and therefore also in regions and communes where they are lower rates of covered vaccinations or emergency epidemics. Although people make fun of me on this point, the idea of a flexible obligation according to area is the most reasonable idea.”

 Professors on the board of the Paediatrics University disagree with Grillo’s speech. Self-certification for vaccinations “not only conflicts with the current law on obligatory vaccinations, but also contrasts with the DPR that reads; ‘medical certificates cannot be substituted by another document’. Self-certification is not useable in the health field if it does not follow explicit legislative proposals.”

 “We should definitely consider the worries of school leaders, who have a crucial role in training systems, but school leadership cannot be burdened with the responsibility of health systems,” the representative of Miur, Italy’s ministry of educational training and research, wrote on Facebook. “The question of vaccination is entwined with public health. The Miur guarantees maximum collaboration with the health minister to carry out political health plans.”

 cb