Healthcare vaccination and suspensions, finally a clear line

by Pierpaolo Volpe

31 OTT – Dear Director,
in these hours, information has been disseminated on a possible regulatory intervention, already with the next Council of Ministers, aimed at removing the vaccination obligation for health professionals. As President of a State Subsidiary Body operating under the supervision of the Ministry of Health, I will await the publication of the law and immediately proceed with the revocation of the suspension measures.

From a purely technical point of view I can peacefully say that something is finally moving.

With regard to the vaccination obligation, the inaction of the Ministry of Health in issuing an updated circular that respects the requirements pursuant to Articles 4, paragraph 1, Legislative Decree 44/2021 and subsequent amendments and 8 DL 24/2022, as already highlighted by me in a previous article, has created and is creating many problems for the professional orders and health professionals recovered from the SARS-CoV-2 infection.

In recent months, the Ministry of Health has completely abandoned the national Federations and territorial Orders after having invested them with a burdensome task, failing to issue the provisions required by law (circular pursuant to art.4 DL 44/2021 and 8 DL 24/2022) and stigmatized by the administrative judiciary, exposing them to appeals for the sole fact of having fulfilled a legal obligation and the provisions of the Ministry Offices, especially because the Orders are not financed with public money, but that of the registered health professionals.

In fact, according to some rulings of the TAR, for health professionals who have never been vaccinated and who have contracted the infection with SARS-CoV-2, the term of “6 months” for the deferral of compulsory vaccination identified in the ministerial circular no. 32884 of 21 July 2021 in place of the quarterly one referred to in ministerial circular no. 8284 of 3 March 2021.

For other TARs, the deadline for postponing compulsory vaccination is identified in the term of “twelve months”, declaring the letter of clarification sent last February by the Legal Office of the Ministry to the Professional Orders, ineligible because it does not comply with the law, with which the postponement of mandatory vaccination for 90 days for those recovered from SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Last June, all the national Federations of the Orders of the Health Professions formally requested the Ministry to issue an updated Circular that complies with the legal requirements, unfortunately not receiving any feedback.

Finally the new Minister has begun to draw a clear line to get the Orders and health workers out of the contradiction in which they are living.

Dr. Pierpaolo Volpe
President of the Order of Nursing Professions, Province of Taranto

October 31, 2022
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