[New vaccinations: compulsory or not?].

Abstract

In order to contribute to the discussion of compulsory vaccinations a brief review of those vaccines that have been extensively used so far is presented. Such review reflects the urgency to update the vaccine schedule presently in use in our country, following WHO recommendations. In Italy, hepatitis B vaccination will soon be made compulsory by law for all newborns and children at the age of 12. As far as measles, mumps and rubella are concerned there is no universal agreement on whether to vaccinate the newborns or not because there is a theoretical risk of delaying the occurrence of these infections to a later age. Such risk could be easily reduced by allowing for booster doses of vaccine at the beginning of primary school. Only pilot studies would provide evidence on the effectiveness of the new vaccines for whooping cough and varicella-zoster and on the opportunity of vaccinating newborns for these infections. For all the others available and experimental vaccines it is too early to consider their inclusion among the compulsory vaccines although the rapid pace of the research in this field makes it quite likely that vaccination schedule will be soon extended.