Vaccination obligation: request for documentation in schools in the 6-16 year range

Corvelva Staff 119 / 2017 law

Many worried parents write to us to understand how to behave with the vaccination obligation enshrined in law 119/2017: with this article we want to clarify this rule.

The compulsory vaccination foreseen for 10 vaccines (9 for those born up to 2016) includes the 0-16 age range as regards the sanctioning aspect, but the blackmail of school exclusion applies only to preschools, i.e. nursery and maternal.

In fact, from primary school onwards, school attendance is in any case guaranteed as can be seen clearly and cannot be interpreted from the reading of Article 3 bis of Law 119/2017. We report the article in question, specifically paragraph 5:

"For educational services for infants and preschools, including non-equal private ones, failure to submit the documentation referred to in paragraph 3 within the established deadline will result in forfeiture of enrollment. ** For the other degrees of education and for the regional vocational training centers, failure to submit the documentation referred to in paragraph 3 within the established terms does not result in forfeiture of enrollment nor prevents participation in the exams **.

The school must send to the ASL of reference by 10 March of each year the list of enrolled students for the following year, after which the ASL, at the end of the checks, reports to the school the subjects not up to date with vaccinations and finally, the head teacher is required to ask the parents of the minors concerned for a documentary integration, ie the required documentation or the formal request for a vaccination appointment from the ASL.

ATTENTION: any inquiries from the school regarding the vaccination status of the minor, despite being regulated by law also in terms of privacy, it must not and cannot be considered mandatory. Even if nothing is delivered, the school will limit itself only to communicating it to the ASL for their subsequent obligations but there can be no further repercussions regarding school attendance or enrollment.

NB For those who have not already done so, we recommend that you respond to any communication from the ASL that is delivered by registered mail, starting a process of active objection to vaccinations regardless of the vaccination status or school attendance or not.

Since access to school cannot be denied in the 6-16 year range, in our opinion it makes no sense to respond to the requests of schools by presenting a self-certification, nor is it advisable to request a vaccination appointment from the ASL if not it is your intention to proceed with vaccinations because, we repeat, in compulsory schools, minors cannot be excluded from attendance.

You can choose not to hand over anything even if your children are partially vaccinated, simply by informing the school that you prefer to deal directly with the competent ASL while keeping certain information confidential.

In the event that a school principal persists in his requests, we recommend that you print a copy of the law and show it to him. To try to be of help and support, we have prepared the PDF of law 119/2017 with the Art. 3 bis paragraph 5 and a pre-printed text (modifiable and customizable) for all those who, despite not wanting to deliver documentation on vaccinations, still wish to put their reasons in writing and point out the criticality of privacy.

We believe that the choice not to deliver anything is in the 6/16 age group understandable and indeed consistent for those who decide to exercise an objection to the obligations imposed on health.

Thank you, Corvelva Staff