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Officials just want to make sure that parents seek medical advice on vaccination.
STATES CHRONICLE -Vaccination is very important, especially for small children who have a higher risk of diseases. In Germany, a new law could fine parents who don’t vaccinate their children when necessary. This law could be introduced to lower the risk of diseases.
Hermann Gröhe, the health minister, mentioned that this law is necessary. Germany doesn’t want to make vaccination obligatory. Officials just want to make sure that parents seek medical advice on vaccination. If this law is approved, kindergartners staff need to report all parents who can’t prove that they have taken their children to a medical consultation.
The law, that could be adopted next month, is going to affect the children whose parents failed to seek vaccination advice. These kids can even be expelled from their kindergartens and their parents could be fined. The Bundersrat (upper house of German Parliament) mentioned that forcing the staff from kindergartens to report parents could breach data protection laws.
In other European countries, vaccination is mandatory. Parents are obligated to vaccinate their children against 12 common illnesses including polio, hepatitis B, and measles. The same law was adopted in Italy last week after the country was affected by a devastating measles outbreak.
The main factor that caused the European measles epidemic was the low rate of vaccination. In the area where the rate was lower, the number of measles cases exponentially increased. In Germany, more than 410 measles cases were reported since the beginning of the year. Last year, there were only 325 cases for the whole year.
In Europe, the most cases of measles were reported in 7 countries which include Germany, Poland, Ukraine, Switzerland, Romania, Italy, and France. The most affected countries are Romania and Italy. To avoid the epidemic from spreading even more, parents should vaccinate their children before they enroll them in school or other public institutions. Also, WHO mentioned that all people should receive a second measles jab.
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