Germany will BAN children from school if they have not had vaccination jabs in a bid to wipe out deadly measles
- The German cabinet has approved a draft bill to make the vaccine compulsory
- Children will be turned away from school or nursery without proof of the vaccine
- Parents who refuse to have their children vaccinated could face a fine of £2,250
- Teachers, healthcare workers and refugee shelter staff would also need the jab
- The move responds to growing scepticism of vaccines and more measles cases
Germany will make childhood measles vaccinations mandatory from March 2020, aiming to wipe out the potentially deadly disease, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cabinet has ruled.
Children will only be admitted to kindergarten or school if they have had the jabs, Health Minister Jens Spahn said on Wednesday.
Vaccinations will also be compulsory for staff in day-care centres, educational institutions, medical facilities and refugee shelters.
German Health Minister Jens Spahn announced a draft bill to make measels vaccination compulsory for all children, teachers, healthcare workers and refugee shelter staff
‘We want to protect as many children as possible from a measles infection,’ said Spahn, who is aiming for at least 95 per cent coverage.
Violations will lead to fines of up to €2,500 (£2,250) under the bill that is expected to pass easily through the Bundestag lower house of parliament.
Germany’s paediatricians’ association has long demanded mandatory childhood vaccinations against measles and a range of other diseases.
The UN World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that global efforts to increase immunisation coverage against deadly diseases are stagnating.
A child with measles rash on their body (stock photo). The German government want to make vaccination compulsory
Last year, 350,000 cases of measles were reported worldwide, more than double the number for 2017.
And they increased fourfold globally in the first quarter of 2019 compared to the same period last year, according to the WHO.
Germany recorded 543 cases last year, and more than 400 so far this year.
The resurgence of the disease in some countries has been blamed on the so-called ‘anti-vax’ movement, which is largely based on a 1998 publication linking the measles vaccine and autism that has since been debunked.
A measles vaccination is administered during a free measles vaccination clinic in the US city of Pittsburg (file photo)