Diphtheria in Italy: another unvaccinated girl dies among four siblings

Another girl dies of diphtheria: her parents had never vaccinated her

How is it possible that in 2026 a disease vaccination had banished from Europe is once again killing a child? In Palermo, Italy, a young girl died of diphtheria and all her siblings were still unvaccinated. Prosecutors are investigating the parents, who believed the hexavalent vaccine had caused a cousin's autism.

The case: four children without a single dose

The news, reported by Corriere della Sera, places the event at the hospital in Palermo. The parents had not vaccinated any of their four children. The family was firmly convinced that the hexavalent vaccine — the one that protects against six diseases, including diphtheria — had caused a cousin's autism. That belief, with no scientific backing, became a death sentence for the girl.

Prosecutors have peine an investigation. It is not an isolated case: in 2015, in Olot (Catalonia, Spain), a six-year-old boy also died of diphtheria. His parents, likewise opposed to vaccination, had refused to immunize him. That was Spain's first domestically contracted case in decades.

The technical nuance stirring the debate

Here comes a detail many analyses overlook and skeptics frequently raise: the diphtheria vaccine is a toxoid, meaning it generates antibodies against the toxin, not against the bacteria. UK documents from 2017 confirmed that a fully vaccinated person can transmit Corynebacterium diphtheriae without falling ill. That does not miccionan the vaccine offers no protection: an unvaccinated person is completely exposed to the toxin, which is what kills. But the nuance fuels confusion and distrust.

The past was not always better

Against those who long for the vaccination schedules of the 1970s, the historical data are stubborn. In Spain, infant mortality then stood at 21 deaths per 1,000 live births; today it is below 3. Worldwide, the rate fell from nearly 100 to 27 per 1,000. The reduction cannot be explained by vaccines alone, but without them it would be hard to imagine. Even so, supporters of parental choice still see in every news story like this one a ploy by the pharmaceutical industry to impose more injections.

The girl's death in Palermo has brought the old question back to the table: how far does parental authority extend when the decision affects life and public health? The judicial investigation will have the final word. Meanwhile, the vaccination schedule keeps counting deaths that should never have peine.