Brno, Jan 20 (CTK) – Not only religion, but also freedom of conscience in the broadest sense can be a reason for parents refusing their children’s vaccination, the Czech Constitutional Court (US) ruled yesterday, deciding for the parents who were recently fined for having refused the compulsory hexa vaccine to their child.
This may include a situation in which parents saw some negative effect in one of their descendants and then were to allow the vaccination of another, the US said.
In similar, rather exceptional cases, the state may forgive the financial penalty, it added.
It is always necessary to assess the constitutional dimension and urgency of the reasons, the strength and determination of the parents’ belief as well as the social impact of their decision, the US said.
However, a simple doubt about the usefulness of vaccination is not a sufficient reason, judge Ludvik David said.
The pardoning of the penalty must remain an exception, he added.
“The Health Ministry respects the court decision, but insists on the vaccination system and does not intend to change anything,” spokeswoman Stepanka Cechova has told CTK.
Roman Prymula, chairman of the Czech Vaccinology Society, said the verdict was a failure.
“If we introduce such a vague notion as conscience into the decision-making process, we can cancel all the rules because all those saying this is against their conscience may be absolutely unpunishable,” Prymula said.
If there is no punishment in the available legislation, it may not exist at all, but it will be impossible to enforce it, he added.
Under the existing legislation, the failure to observe the vaccination duty may be fined by up to 10,000 crowns.
In their constitutional complaint, the parents argued that they had rejected the vaccination both on account of their conscience and the child’s interest.
They said they fear autism as a consequence of the vaccination.
The parents argued that natural immunity was best and it could be harmed by the vaccination.
Sanitary officials say thanks to the vaccination, some 500 children do not die a year and another 150,000 do not fall ill.
($1 = 24.865 crowns)
