European rights court backs compulsory pre-school vaccinations
European rights court backs compulsory pre-school vaccinations
European rights court backs compulsory pre-school vaccinations
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has backed the
Czech Republic in its requirement for mandatory pre-school vaccinations.
The case was brought by families who were fined or whose children were
refused entry to pre-schools because they had not been vaccinated.
In a landmark ruling, the court found that while the Czech policy interfered
with the right to a private life, there was a need to protect public health.
All the cases pre-date the pandemic.
However, the issue of routine childhood vaccinations has come under
increasing scrutiny due to the spread of Covid-19.
This is the first ruling from the ECHR on compulsory vaccination against
childhood diseases. The judges backed the Czech legislation by 16 to 1.
“The… measures could be regarded as being ‘necessary in a democratic
society'” the court said, adding: “The objective has to be that every child
is protected against serious diseases, through vaccination or by virtue
of herd immunity.” Under the Czech rules, parents are legally obliged
to vaccinate their children against a number of childhood diseases
unless this is not possible for health reasons.
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However, the jabs cannot be forcibly given and unvaccinated children
cannot be excluded on this basis once they reach primary school age.
In one of the five cases involving pre-school exclusions, a family refused to
allow their daughter to received the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) jab.
The child joined the school in 2006 but her place was withdrawn two years
later when the family doctor informed the headteacher that the child had
not received the vaccination. A Czech court later backed the school’s decision
on the grounds that allowing the child to continue to go to the pre-school
could endanger others.
Other parents had been refused pre-school places, while one father was
fined for failing to fully vaccinate his children. The Czech Republic is not
the only EU country with mandatory childhood vaccinations.
Last year, a law came into effect in Germany requiring all parents to vaccinate
their children against measles or face a fine of up to €2,500 ($3,000; £2,160).
France and Italy have also changed their vaccine rules following a measles
outbreak in recent years, while similar suggestions were made in England
amid falling uptake of the MMR jab in England in 2018-19.
