In an uncanny twist of fate, Massimiliano Fedriga, an Italian politician who rejected making school vaccination requirements mandatory, got hospitalized with chickenpox.
The anti-vaccination advocate has contracted chickenpox, which causes red blisters and itchy rashes on the face and body. He was under observation in a medical facility for four days.
Fedriga belongs to the far-right League party and serves as the President of the northeastern Friuli-Venezia Giulia region.
The official has always been vocal against Italy's legislation of the Lorenzin Law that orders mandatory vaccination for children for 12 diseases including chickenpox, measles, mumps, polio, and rubella.
In 2017, Italy has seen a surge in the number of measles, prompting legislators to bat for the mandatory vaccination of school children. The vaccination law has become a contentious issue in Italy's political scene.
Fight For Vaccines
Under the new law, parents who send unvaccinated children to school can be fined up to $560. Kindergartens and nursery schools can also turn away children aged six and below if they cannot show proof of immunization.
Fedriga earlier said that parents should not be coerced into vaccinating their children and even described the law as Stalinist.
However, upon his hospitalization, Fedriga wrote on Facebook that he does not oppose vaccination.
"I have always said that I am in favour of vaccines and to achieve the result it is necessary to have an alliance with families not imposition," Fedriga wrote in his post.
Italian doctor Roberto Burioni advised adults to get vaccinated. He said Fedriga would have been in perfect health if he received vaccination as an adult.
"If he had infected a pregnant woman we would be facing a malformed child or an abortion," said Burioni, referring to Fedriga's unvaccinated state.
"The only way we have to avoid such tragedies is to vaccinate us all to prevent the circulation of this dangerous virus, which could have hit a much more vulnerable person."
Italy's Lorenzin Law
The Lorenzin law proposed by health minister Beatrice Lorenzin passed in July 2018 and gave parents nine months to provide medical certification on the vaccination of their children.
Last year, Italy's Ministry of Health allowed children to continue going to school provided that parents attest the documentation of their vaccination.
The verification period ended on March 19 and unvaccinated children are now banned from going to school.
