Dear Myrta Merlino

Posted April 17th, 2025

Dear Myrta Merlino, Thank you for the continuous attention you give me on your show Pomeriggio 5 on Canale 5. I would like to use this opportunity to correct some inaccuracies, made surely in good faith, reported in the episode on April 16th. If you had allowed your audience to see my entire video without arbitrarily cutting it off after the first sentence, you and your listeners would have understood, without much effort, that I did not engage in medical-scientific discussions, but merely expressed my support for the collection of signatures for the referendum that seeks to abolish the mandatory vaccination requirement for children, allowing parents, based on their trusted doctor's advice, to decide what is best for their children. I do not believe that the right to express an opinion on a referendum question has been removed in Italy, and I hope you do not wish to do so either. I also emphasized that it is the duty of doctors, not mine, to explain why pediatric vaccination should be evaluated individually by parents based on their trusted doctor's recommendations, rather than being an indiscriminate obligation for everyone. It is also not true, as stated in the segment you aired, that I have closed comments on my social profiles. Any of my followers can comment, and no comments are censored or deleted. I humbly point out that, on the contrary, the inability to comment belongs to the social profiles of certain guests of yours. If your collaborators had read beyond the first three lines, they would have discovered that I also responded to those who expressed a differing opinion regarding the freedom of vaccination choice. They are few, but they have all my respect. As for the claim that I, living in Hong Kong, do not have the right to speak on matters concerning Italy, I remind your esteemed guests that, in addition to my husband, all of my children hold Italian passports, and our family is registered with AIRE, so my family is Italian in every respect. Italians living abroad do not have fewer rights than those living in Italy. Sincerely, Heather Parisi