In Italy paediatric vaccinations are compulsory and perceived as a normal practice of good, responsible parenting, not a matter of choice. Still, a minority of parents reclaim the right to choose. Vaccinations are a complex field of debate for diverse reasons: they concern the delicate issue of children’s health; severe, chronic and debilitating conditions are present even if only in potentia; choice is necessarily delegated to parents. This paper illustrates discursive, practical and legal negotiations undertaken by parents claiming the right to choose in their encounters with biomedical experts. Parents have to deal with a social, medical and legal system that strongly discourage exemption from vaccination but, at the same time, biomedical experts often give ambiguous and contradictory information. According to parents, uncertainty and inconsistency is created by the strong influence to foster vaccinations, exerted by pharmaceutical companies on national health systems. The paper does not aim to give a judgment of value of different perspectives; it offers a reflection on the fact that the main elements included in the logic of care may be unattainable when health management is multifaceted and linked to wide networks of economic interests.

When ‘to choose’ is ‘to care’: the case of paediatric vaccinations

RAFFAETÀ R
2012-01-01

Abstract

In Italy paediatric vaccinations are compulsory and perceived as a normal practice of good, responsible parenting, not a matter of choice. Still, a minority of parents reclaim the right to choose. Vaccinations are a complex field of debate for diverse reasons: they concern the delicate issue of children’s health; severe, chronic and debilitating conditions are present even if only in potentia; choice is necessarily delegated to parents. This paper illustrates discursive, practical and legal negotiations undertaken by parents claiming the right to choose in their encounters with biomedical experts. Parents have to deal with a social, medical and legal system that strongly discourage exemption from vaccination but, at the same time, biomedical experts often give ambiguous and contradictory information. According to parents, uncertainty and inconsistency is created by the strong influence to foster vaccinations, exerted by pharmaceutical companies on national health systems. The paper does not aim to give a judgment of value of different perspectives; it offers a reflection on the fact that the main elements included in the logic of care may be unattainable when health management is multifaceted and linked to wide networks of economic interests.
2012
37
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/10278/3740958
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