(ANSA) - Rome, May 19 - The cabinet on Friday approved a decree reintroducing compulsory vaccinations for school admissions. The decree had been held up by a row between Health Minister Beatrice Lorenzin and Education Minister Valeria Fedeli over the age limit for the obligation, with Lorenzin wanting it raised to 10 and Fedeli insisting it should be left at six.

In the end, Fedeli won out.

Premier Paolo Gentiloni said "without vaccinations there can be no entry into schools from ages 0-6".

Sanctions up to "30 times the current ones" will be envisaged for children who are not vaccinated, the premier said. Among the compulsory vaccinations, he said, would be those for measles and meningitis, whose cases have risen in Italy recently.

The government has vowed to end a climate of vaccine skepticism in Italy.

