Outbreaks of measles keep continuing to pop up around Europe. Because of this, Germany has passed a new law making vaccinations compulsory for children.
The Measles Protection Act, which was adopted on July 17, 2019, will come into force on March 1, 2020. Parents will have to prove that their children have been vaccinated before entering school. Those who fail to provide their child’s vaccination records by July 31, 2021 could face fines of up to €2,500 and their kid could be prevented from going to school.
The rule also applies for teachers, carers, doctors, and other adults working in community or medical facilities, who will need to prove they have had the required vaccinations to acquire immunity to the viral disease. On top of that, the bill will also require refugees to prove their vaccination status if they move into community accommodation.
“Whether in kindergarten, at the childminder or at school, we want to protect all children against measles infection,” Germany’s Health Minister Jens Spahn said.
The primary cause of the recent European outbreaks is the “failure to vaccinate.” Although there are many factors behind this, it is noted that the growing distrust of vaccinations based on mainly online campaigns of misinformation is a significant contributor. This suspicion of cognitive illnesses and disorders ranging fro mild to extreme can be traced back to the only paper to ever link the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine to the onset of autism, authored by Andrew Wakefield in 1998. The paper, once called “the most damaging medical hoax of the last 100 years,” has since been retracted and disproven. Wakefield has been banned from practising as a doctor in the UK after being found guilty of “serious professional misconduct”, including falsification of data, exploiting children, and conflict of interest through financial gain.
But in the mean time the death toll for measles is still on the rise, with 110,000 people falling victim to the disease in 2017.
