Italy’s Five Star movement, which was founded by a man who once called HIV a hoax, campaigned against mandatory vaccinations ahead of the country’s elections in March — and won. Last month, party leaders pushed through a law that ended compulsory immunizations for children attending public school. The new law has made Italy the darling of the global anti-vaxxer movement. “Europe now is a good example of what happens when coverage of vaccinations is in decline,” said Vytenis Andriukaitis, the European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety. “We’ve got this terrible self-inflicted wound where you’re reversing public health gains in Europe and the U.S.,” said Peter Hotez, dean for the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine.

Source: Huffington Post September 08, 2018 12:00 UTC