An Italian far-right politician opposing compulsory vaccination of children has been hospitalized after contracting chicken pox.
According to Italian media, Massimiliano Fedriga was admitted to a hospital earlier this month with the highly contagious chicken pox infection, reports Euronews.
La Repubblica said Fedriga was kept under observation for four days.
As president of the north-eastern region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Massimiliano Fedriga was strongly against the "Lorenzin law" that made vaccination against several diseases, including chicken pox, measles, and polio, obligatory for school-aged children.
Under this law- which came to into force last week- parents will be fined up to €500 if they send unvaccinated children to school. It also states children under six, who are in a nursery or kindergarten, can be completely turned away if unvaccinated.
The ruling Five Star Movement party have long been contesting to make school vaccinations a mandatory requirement. Last year, the party threatened to upend Italy's vaccination laws but later backtracked on the issue.
Fedriga has been called out by Italian doctors and medical researchers for his stance on the law, which he described as "Stalinist."
He even responded to his critics on a Facebook post, saying he had seen "celebratory comments on Twitter" about his hospitalization.
Fedriga told Euronews that he has "always been a supporter of vaccines" and he vaccinated his children "even when vaccines were not compulsory."
"I am not against vaccines, on the contrary, I am in favour of a stronger alliance with the families," he said.
However, the politician still believed that forcing parents to vaccinate their children will not work: "When children turn six they will necessarily have to go to school, whether they are vaccinated or not, and pupils might end up in classes with unvaccinated children.
"Forcing them to vaccinate their children seems a way to postpone the issue, in my opinion," he said.
Prominent Italian microbiologist, Roberto Burioni, warned against the danger of not vaccinating children against highly-contagious diseases like chicken pox.
"Unfortunately, chicken pox is not only very contagious (and dangerous) but is even transmitted by patients before the onset of symptoms," he said on Facebook.
The doctor said Fedriga would have been in "perfect health" if he were vaccinated as an adult.
"The only way we can avoid these tragedies (because they are tragedies) is to vaccinate ourselves to prevent the circulation of this dangerous virus, which, as it has hit, could affect a much more vulnerable person."
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Italy has seen a surge in the number of measles cases in the country.
