Italy’s populist government is rolling back a law that makes vaccinations obligatory for children, pursuing a highly contentious policy that has been strongly criticised by doctors, schools and medical associations.

A law passed by the previous centre-Left government in March made it obligatory for parents to give their children 10 vaccinations if they wanted to enroll them in state schools.

But the Five Star Movement and The League, which make up the populist government that came to power in June, are both deeply hostile to the law and have been accused of peddling widely-debunked conspiracy theories about the supposed risk of having the jabs.

The upper house of parliament has approved an amendment that will postpone the introduction of the law by a year, until the start of the 2019-2020 school year.

The lower house will vote on the issue after the summer holiday.

Matteo Salvini, the interior minister and the head of The League, has been particularly critical of vaccinations, calling them “useless and in many cases dangerous,” playing on fears that they can cause autism.