Schillaci revokes the vaccine commission: he slows down the anti-vax stance within the majority.

Health Minister Orazio Schillaci steps back and, following a wave of controversy, dismisses the entire National Technical Advisory Group on Vaccinations (NITAG), which he appointed only ten days ago. The process will likely begin anew with the new appointments, which will likely not be made until September. The outcry from the scientific community, from the Medical Association to the major scientific societies, has been too vociferous over the presence among the 22 newly appointed members of two doctors—pediatrician Eugenio Serravalle and hematologist Paolo Bellavite—who had previously publicly expressed anti-vaccine positions, both during the Covid pandemic and before, regarding mandatory pediatric vaccinations.

This backtracking leaves more than a few repercussions even within the majority, given that a significant segment of it—particularly the Brothers of Italy party, which reportedly recommended the two doctors' names, and part of the League—wanted the composition of the NITAG unchanged. Conversely, another segment of the majority, Forza Italia in particular, immediately advocated for the contested appointments to be cancelled within this independent body, which is responsible for supporting the Ministry of Health in formulating evidence-based recommendations regarding vaccinations and vaccination policies. Two sides—one more in tune with the anti-vaxxers' views and the other more intransigent in defending their effectiveness—have clashed since the inception of Giorgia Meloni's government, but so far the former has prevailed. These differences range from the new pandemic plan, which has yet to see the light of day, to the sensational exclusion of Italy (along with the US) from the WHO's new international health regulations for managing future emergencies, to the creation of the parliamentary commission on Covid, established to "investigate" the past management of the pandemic, which has been heavily criticized, especially by the Italian Democratic Party (FdI) and some members of the Northern League. Regarding the Nitag mess, Minister Schillaci initially validated his appointment by signing the decree on August 5th with the list of members of the Committee—probably "inadvertently" regarding its composition—but then took action in the face of a barrage of protests, culminating in the collection of over 21,000 signatures for the Transversal Pact for Science, including those of Nobel Prize winner Giorgio Parisi and pharmacologist Silvio Garattini, thus confirming his fundamental beliefs about the value of vaccinations, which he believes in as a doctor and technician. This is a position the minister did not budge from even under pressure from Palazzo Chigi, which called for the dossier to be put on hold, postponing any decisions until after the summer break. In addition to Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's involvement, Undersecretary Giovanbattista Fazzolari also reportedly intervened. "Protecting public health requires the utmost attention and serious, rigorous work, away from fanfare," Schillaci said yesterday after signing the revocation decree, which now risks leaving more than a crack in the majority, putting the minister back in the crosshairs of the most "vaccination skeptical" wing of both the Brothers of Italy party and the League. In recent days, parliamentarians Alberto Bagnai and Claudio Borghi, also members of the Covid commission, had continued to defend the appointments of Bellavite and Serravalle. This has reignited internal conflict, especially within Forza Italia—yesterday, Forza Italia senatorial president Maurizio Gasparri called for Schillaci's reversal—but also within the League itself, given that Veneto Governor Luca Zaia had defended the decision of Francesca Russo, the regional director of prevention, to resign from the National Institute for Vaccination and Prevention (NITAG) immediately after her appointment, precisely because of the presence of the two "anti-vax" doctors.