A 4-year-old girl died in Palermo, likely from diphtheria, without having been vaccinated, and the case has reopened the discussion about the decline in vaccination coverage in Italy. A cousin of the child, who was vaccinated, was hospitalized with similar symptoms, but his condition is under control and he is not in danger of death. If the cause-and-effect link is confirmed, the country will register its first death from diphtheria in 35 years, according to the newspaper Il Messaggero.
A judicial investigation will determine whether the decision not to administer the vaccine to their daughter was fatal. The parents believed the claim that there was a link between vaccines and autism, a claim refuted by a World Health Organization review that analyzed 31 studies published between 2010 and 2025. Coverage of the hexavalent vaccine in Italy has fallen below 95%, a level considered necessary to guarantee herd immunity.
In the WHO European Region, which comprises 53 countries and includes Central Asia, more than half of the nations do not reach 95% coverage for measles and DTP (diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis), and almost one in three countries falls below 90%. In 2024, the region recorded more than 125 cases of measles, double the number in 2023.
Read also Italy prohibits children without vaccination from attending school – Understand
Read the original article in Italian in the newspaper. The messenger.
The Supreme Court reaffirmed: citizenship is born with the person.
- New legal front opened
- Processes can still be filed.
- Individual assessment before any decision.
