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Ital J Pediatr. 2018 Jun 14;44(1):67. doi: 10.1186/s13052-018-0504-y.
Bozzola E1 Spina G2 Russo R3 Bozzola M4 Corsello G5 Villani A2.
High rates of vaccination coverage are important in preventing infectious diseases. Enforcing mandatory vaccinations is one of the strategies that some Countries adopted to protect the community when vaccination coverage is not satisfactory. In Italy in 2017 vaccination against diphtheria tetanus pertussis hepatitis B poliovirus Haemophilus influenzae type b measles mumps rubella and varicella became compulsory in childhood. In order to contrast vaccination policies anti-vaccination campaigns contribute to the spread of fake news. Among them there is the false information that Italy is the only one country with mandatory vaccination policy. Aim of our study is confronting vaccination policies in children under 18 months against among different European countries for the following vaccines: diphtheria tetanus pertussis hepatitis B poliovirus Haemophilus influenzae type b measles mumps rubella and varicella.
Information on policies of mandatory or recommended vaccinations of the European Countries were gathered by ECDC and compared to the Italian one.
European Countries recommend or contemplate compulsory vaccines. Among them eleven Countries (35.4%) have mandatory vaccinations for at least one out of diphtheria tetanus pertussis hepatitis B poliovirus Haemophilus influenzae type b measles mumps rubella and varicella vaccine.
Not only in Italy vaccination against diphtheria tetanus pertussis hepatitis B poliovirus Haemophilus influenzae type b measles mumps rubella and varicella is mandatory in children under 18 months. Other European countries adopted compulsory policies in order to prevent the spread of infectious diseases and to protect the community.
Children; Europe; Vaccination; Vaccination policies
PMID: 29898770 PMCID: PMC6001041 DOI: 10.1186/s13052-018-0504-y