Schillaci dissolves the vaccine committee, the right splits: the minister is defended only by Forza Italia, while the League attacks.

The decision is well known, but the consequences are unfolding and could be explosive for the government. On Saturday, Health Minister Orazio Schillaci , the former rector of Rome's Tor Vergata University chosen by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni as a "technician" for a challenging ministry, signed a decree to dissolve NITAG , the National Technical Advisory Group on Vaccinations.

This is an independent body composed of experts called upon to provide scientific advice and opinions on vaccines and vaccination policies . This choice was made due to the inclusion in the team of experts of two doctors who, in the recent past, expressed at least skeptical opinions on the Covid-19 vaccines and pediatric vaccines in general: Eugenio Serravalle and Paolo Bellavite .

The minister himself had dissociated himself from their appointment, claiming that their appointment had been promoted by others within the ministry, while hundreds of doctors and scientists, including Nobel Prize winner Giorgi Parisi, had signed petitions calling for their removal . After asking the two doctors to withdraw from NITAG, but receiving no response, Schillaci decided on Saturday to dissolve the entire committee. It is currently unclear when the next 22 members will be appointed.

This is the premise. The political problem, however, is tied to the majority's reactions to Schillaci's move, which essentially threatened to resign if his "hands were tied" on the NITAG dossier. While Forza Italia applauded the minister's decision, with Senate group leader Maurizio Gasparri calling it an "act of respect for the considerations of the medical and scientific world," the Brothers of Italy party responded with icy silence.

A choice that, however, would not have been liked by Palazzo Chigi, reveals Repubblica, which would have let its irritation filter through for a choice " not agreed upon , we are for pluralism".

The League is the one speaking out, attacking the decision of the former rector of Tor Vergata. Senator Claudio Borghi , a member of the Covid commission, speaks in X of a "grave error" by a minister who followed "the cackling incited by the PD and M5S." His fellow MP Alberto Bagnai, in an interview with Repubblica, instead speaks of "the ministry's complacency towards the dictates of researchers , some of whom, frankly, as a university professor, I have difficulty understanding the full scientific relevance."