art. 117 of the Italian Legislative Decree n. 112/1998.

The limited deterrent effectiveness of the already mentioned sanctioning system, and the changes introduced by the Italian Constitutional Law n. 3/2001 (devolution of almost all the competences and responsibilities in health matters to the Regions and the Autonomous Provinces), were the fertile ground in which new vaccine policies were generated and developed, radically different from the existing ones: many Regions, based on what was decided in 2005 - on an experimental basis - by the State-Regions Conference, decided to abolish the vaccination obligation and/or to stop the imposition of administrative sanctions on non-compliant parents.

At the same time, however, there was a tendency to offer actively and freely, especially for the newborns' cohorts, some further vaccinations, called "recommended" and included inthe vaccination timetables (see Italian National Health Plan 1996-1998, Italian National Plan for Vaccines 1999-2000, New Italian National Plan for Vaccines 2005-2007, Italian National Plans for Vaccine Prevention 2012-2014 and 2017-2019): measles, mumps, rubella, pertussis, Haemophilus influenzae type b, meningococcus B and C, pneumococcus, varicella, HPV, rotavirus. It should also be noted that vaccinations have been included in the LEA ("Livelli Essenziali di Assistenza", fundamental assistance standards) since 2002 (see Decree of the President of the Council of Ministers 29th November 2001).

Meanwhile, jurisprudence had also dealt with the subject of the indemnity of the (rare, but possible) damages consequent to mandatory health treatments. Following the Italian Constitutional Court's pronunciation n. 307/1990 (which had declared "*the constitutional illegitimacy of the law of February 4, 1966, No. 51 (Obligation of