'I'm not a no-vax, I'm not vaccinated because I still have antibodies and the doctor recommended I don't do it.'

That's how Virginia Raggi, mayor of Rome, running for a second term, expressed herself regarding the possibility of compulsory vaccination in an interview with In Onda on La7.

"Everyone must listen to their doctor and do what he advises - added Rome’s mayor, who had contracted Covid a few months ago -  “The issue of vaccination must be a medical issue, politicians should not start to make battles of principle and make it an election issue. If it becomes an electoral issue, it means that there are no other issues to talk about".

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And then, she added: "I do not feel like saying whether I'm for or against, I think these are issues that should be decided by doctors. Should I appeal to people to vaccinate? I don’t think I should. I feel like saying ask your doctor and do what he says ".

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The words of the leading member of the Five Star political party, however, ignited a political debate. The first to attack was the governor of Lazio, Nicola Zingaretti, saying: "Until today we knew the position of the No Vax groups. The mayor, in her last month of office in our beloved capital, has just created a new group,  the `Ni Vax’, meaning ‘I haven’t made a decision about this, just as I haven’t made a decision in the last five years’. And the Romans pay.

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Carlo Calenda, leader of the Azione Party and in the race for mayor of the capital also chimed in, saying "It is really serious that the mayor of Italy’s capital, in the midst of a tough battle to secure the country, expresses themself in this way”.

Ph: Repubblica