Burioni vs. Mayor Potenza Picena: Here’s Why, What Happened

“The mayor of Potenza Picena organizes, sponsors and publicizes a meeting with anti-vax activists. I point this out to her, instead of apologizing and admitting her mistake, she prefers to create controversy”. It is the latest intervention by virologist Roberto Burioni, in a social media back-and-forth that was triggered with the mayor Noemi Tartabinion an event sponsored by his municipality which was expected to include among the guests a doctor with critical positions on vaccines.

What happened

For Burioni, “the most serious” and “irresponsible” thing is that, “instead of acknowledging the mistake”, the mayor “defends her choice with the surreal statement that ‘the current municipal administration of Potenza Picena listens to everyone and gives everyone the opportunity to express their position on different issues’. So – the virologist insists – those who say that vaccination should not be done and that it causes deaths are listened to and given the opportunity to express their position? Those who say that tumors are the result of a mental alteration and should not be treated with current therapies (I did not choose an example at random) are listened to and given the opportunity to express their position? If the mayor organizes a debate on violence against women, even a rapist is listened to and given the opportunity to express his position? If we talk about racism, do you also invite a racist to explain that certain people are inferior to whites?”, are the questions that Burioni asks. If “an undecided mother”, after “a lying and irresponsible doctor tells her that ‘vaccines have never saved anyone, there are statistics’, does not vaccinate that child and that child dies of tetanus, do we count this in the freedom of expression category?”

The professor of virology and microbiology at the Vita-Salute San Raffaele University in Milan specifies that his is not a political attack, and that proof of this is for example his “recent controversy with the Tuscany Region, which pays for homeopathic treatments for citizens. You – he writes on Facebook addressing Tartabini – have the duty to protect the health of citizens. And the fact that the demonstration was successful makes your behavior more serious, which is that of having given space to anti-scientific positions put forward by people with no authority who spread lies that are very dangerous for public health, and therefore also for your citizens. Precisely in view of the regional elections, perhaps it is better that you join the reasonable people (there are many in your party too) because the no-vax idiots bring you few votes and take many away from you, trust me”, concludes Burioni.