Several children were sent back
home on Monday after a deadline for pupils to comply with a new
law making vaccinations obligator for admission to schools and
nurseries passed at the weekend.
Four children under six were unable to enter public nursery
and infants schools in Milan because they are not in compliance,
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 manager at a school in Sulmona, near the central city of
L'Aquila, said Monday that four pupils there had been sent home
because too.
"They are four different cases," said Elvira Tonti of the
Serafini - Di Stefano Institute.
"Two are on the way to being resolved because they were
caused by simple forgetfulness and will be sorted by tomorrow.
"The other two, on the other hand, have refused to vaccinate
their children".
Several dozen" children were sent home in Sardinia for
failing to comply with the new vaccination rules, sources said.
The deadline for presenting certificates for 10 compulsory
vaccinations passed on Saturday.
"It's impossible to say exactly what the number is," Cagliari
provincial schools chief Luca Cancelliere told ANSA, "but many
reports are coming to school principals".
In the small town of Elmas outside Cagliari alone, there
were 40 children without authorisation, he said.
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".
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