Italian law no. 1/2021 on the subject of vaccination against Covid-19 in people with mental disabilities within the nursing homes

The Coronavirus Disease-19 (Covid-19) pandemic, in the last year, has resulted in a significant number of infections and deaths among nursing homes’ residents. This phenomenon has set up the necessity to subject these patients, often suffering from mental disabilities to a vaccination against Covid-19. However, vaccination has long been the subject of public attention, being regulated differently in many European countries. In Italy, the Ministry of Health has given priority, vaccination-wise, to health facilities’ patients. The government has regulated through-law no. 1 of January 5, 2021, art. 5, the manifestation of consent to be Covid-19 vaccinated in incapacitated subjects admitted to assisted health facilities. This rule arose from the need to protect fragile individuals as well as providing real dispositions for the involved health professionals. Nursing homes’ elderly guests could be divided into four categories: a) subjects capable to express their will (affected by physical problems); b) subjects who, due to varying degrees of incapacitation, have their own legal guardian, curator or support administrator, appointed in accordance with the law; c) incapacitated subjects without legal representatives d) subjects who, pursuant to law no. 219/2017, have appointed their own trustee. This paper provides for a clear exemplification of all the possible scenarios identified by the Italian law no.1/2021.