Prague's Mandatory Vaccination For Children Does Not Violate Human Rights Convention- ECHR

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 08th April, 2021) The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled on Thursday that the Czech Republic's mandatory vaccination for children against nine diseases does not violate the European Convention of Human Rights, and the measures can be regarded as being "necessary in a democratic society."

In the Czech Republic, vaccination against nine diseases is compulsory for children. Compliance cannot be physically enforced, but parents who fail to comply without good reason can be fined, and children who are not vaccinated without good reason are not accepted in schools. In their complaint, the applicants claimed that consequences of their non-compliance with the statutory duty of vaccination were "incompatible with their right to respect for their private life."

"In today's Grand Chamber judgment in the case of Vavricka and Others v. the Czech Republic the European Court of Human Rights held, by a majority (sixteen votes to one), [came to a conclusion] that there had been: no violation of Article 8 (right to respect for private life) of the European Convention on Human Rights .

.. With regard to immunisation, the objective has to be that every child is protected against serious diseases, through vaccination or by virtue of herd immunity. The Czech health policy could therefore be said to be consistent with the best interests of the children who were its focus ... Although the child applicants' non-admission to preschool had meant the loss of an important opportunity to develop their personalities, it was a preventive rather than a punitive measure," ECHR said in a press release.

The ECHR concluded that the impugned measure could be regarded as being "necessary in a democratic society," the statement read on.