4 kids sent home in Milan over vaccines (3)

(ANSA) - Milan, March 12 - Four children under six were unable to enter public nursery and infants schools in Milan on Monday because they are not in compliance with a new law on vaccinations, city sources said. They said around 10 children were non-compliant but, of those, five or six had been absent since the end of last week due to flu.
    Some of the parents of the children affected said they had not had time to get the vaccinations done, sources said. A deadline for parents to make their children compliant with the law passed at the weekend. Last week it was estimated that around 30,000 children are not in compliance with the law. Giovanni Rezza, the head of the infectious diseases department of Italy's Higher Health Institute (ISS), said Monday that the goal of the government decree making vaccinations obligatory for admission to public nurseries and schools has been achieved. "We have over 95% of children vaccinated for the six-in-one vaccine, so the threshold that makes it possible to have collected immunity has been reached," Rezza said. "We've had an increase of about 6% for the measles (vaccine) so we are close to that threshold in this case too. "The numbers show that vaccinations have increased and this was the objective of the decree, not to punish parents who fail to comply. "Vaccines, above all, are a right".