Massimiliano Fedriga, governor of Italy’s Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, met with a torrent of ridicule when he revealed that he’d been hospitalized with chickenpox last week. The right-wing La Liga politician had denounced the Lorenzin decree, which made vaccination mandatory in 2017, as ‘Stalinist,’ arguing authorities should instead “form an alliance” with families to convince them to vaccinate their children against the 12 diseases, including chickenpox, mandated by the new law.

Despite his support for voluntary vaccination, Fedriga has nonetheless been denounced as an “anti-vaxxer” and told he’s gotten what he deserves for spitting in the face of scientific progress. Even though his kids are vaccinated, and the chickenpox vaccine didn’t exist when he was a child, the temptation to use his (admittedly ironic) illness as a punchline was too great.