Anti-vaxx parents in Germany to face €2,500 fines if children do not have measles jab
'Anyone going to a kindergarten or school should be vaccinated,' say Jens Spahn
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Your support makes all the difference.Parents who do not get measles vaccinations for their children could be fine thousands of Euros, under new plans being drawn up in Germany.
Health minister Jens Spahn has drawn up draft legislation which would also see children excluded from nursery and daycare facilities.
His initiative comes amid a highly charged debate in the country about whether the measles vaccine should be obligatory.
"I want to eradicate measles," Mr Spahn told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper."Anyone going to a kindergarten or school should be vaccinated against measles," said Mr Spahn, setting out his plans, which would oblige parents to show proof of vaccination.
He added: "Whoever does not get their child vaccinated, faces up to €2,500 in fines."
Mr Spahn said he believed he had broad support for his draft law in the ruling coalition of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives, to which he belongs, and the left-leaning Social Democrats (SPD).
His comments came less than 24-hours after Britain's health secretary Matt Hancock said people who spread myths about the harms of vaccines had “blood on their hands” as he refused to rule out compulsory immunisations.
While he downplayed suggestions that it would be made illegal not to vaccinate children, he said it could be considered if stalling immunisation rates are not addressed.
Vaccines are “good for you, good for your children, and good for your neighbour” who may have a medical condition that prevents them having the vaccine, he said.
“Those who have promoted the anti-vaccination myth are morally reprehensible, deeply irresponsible and have blood on their hands,” he added.
His comments came in the wake of an investigation by The Times which found 40,000 UK parents are members of a single online group calling for children to be left unimmunised against life-threatening disease.
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