Leading opponent of compulsory vaccinations hospitalised with chicken pox

An Italian politician who was a vocal opponent of mandatory vaccinations for schoolchildren has been hospitalised after contracting chicken pox.

Massimiliano Fedriga, president of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, spent four days under observation following the diagnosis.

Fedriga is a member of the League, the far-right populist party currently in a ruling coalition with the anti-establishment Five Star movement. Both parties have expressed scepticism about vaccinations, further inflaming the country’s active “anti-vax” movement.

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Italian lawmakers approved making vaccinations against common childhood illnesses compulsory in 2017, “after a sharp increase in measles led to fatalities following the spread online of conspiracy theories linking vaccines to autism”, The Times reports.

At the time, Fedriga was a fierce critic of the proposal, The Independent reports. As leader of the League in the lower house of parliament, he accused the “Stalinist” Democratic Party, who introduced the legislation, of “coercing” families and taking away parental choice.

Last week, new laws came into force barring children under six who have not received their vaccines from enrolling at nurseries, while the parents of older children face a €500 (£429) fine for sending their unvaccinated offspring to school.

However, Italy’s interior minister and League leader Matteo Salvini has said he wants to roll back the legislation, dismissing the mandatory vaccinations as “useless and in many cases dangerous”.

Leading Italian virologist Roberto Burioni accused Salvini of telling “dangerous lies”.

“Ten vaccines are not useless, nor are they harmful,” Burioni wrote on Twitter. “In fact, they protect you, your children and your electorate.”

In a Facebook post written as he convalesces at home, Fedriga insisted that he was not opposed to vaccinations in principle, and accused his opponents of misrepresenting his position in order to glory in the supposed irony of his predicament.

“I’m reading a series of celebratory comments on Twitter because I’ve been hospitalised,” he said.

“This cult of crazies who follow Burioni haven’t even read my interviews where I say I’m in favour of vaccinations and to reach results an alliance with families is needed, not imposition.”