© Sergei SUPINSKY AFPThis is the first time that the ECHR has delivered a judgement about compulsory vaccination against childhood diseases
This is the first time that the ECHR has delivered a judgement about compulsory vaccination against childhood diseases.
Experts say it could have implications for any policy of compulsory vaccinations against Covid-19.
Comment: The timing of the ruling is certainly suspect.
The Czech cases were lodged between 2013-2015, well before the current pandemic.
"The... measures could be regarded as being 'necessary in a democratic society'" the court ruled, saying that the Czech health policy was consistent with the "best interests" of children.
Comment: This paves the way for governments to violate the rights of parents and children, all the while the state claims it's in their 'best interest': British State Has Stolen Thousands of Children From Families it Deems 'Potential Risk' - Hundreds of Pregnant Women Fleeing UK Shores
"The objective has to be that every child is protected against serious diseases, through vaccination or by virtue of herd immunity," it added.
As a result, the court ruled there had been no violation of Article 8 on the right to respect for private life of the European Convention on Human Rights.
The decision was by the court's Grand Chamber and cannot be appealed.
'Pursued legitimate aims'
This judgement "reinforces the possibility of a compulsory vaccination under conditions of the current Covid-19 epidemic," Nicolas Hervieu, a legal expert specialising in the ECHR, told AFP.
The judgement endorses "the principle of social solidarity which can justify imposing vaccination on everyone, even those who feel less threatened by the disease, when it comes to protecting the most vulnerable people," added Hervieu, who teaches at Sciences Po in Paris.
In the Czech Republic, there is a general legal duty to vaccinate children against nine diseases, including diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, hepatitis B and measles.
The case had been filed to the ECHR by Czech parents who were fined for failure to comply with this vaccination duty or whose children were denied admission to nursery school for the same reason.
Comment: They were initially fined, but it would seem that now the parents will be threatened that if they do not consent to their children being injected, then they will be forcibly taken away from them.
The applicants had alleged that the consequences of non-compliance was incompatible with their right to respect for their private life.
The court said the obligatory vaccination policy was "in a reasonable relationship of proportionality to the legitimate aims" of the Czech state.
The court found that the Czech authorities "pursued the legitimate aims of protecting health as well as the rights of others".
It noted that "vaccination protects both those who receive it and also those who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons and are therefore reliant on herd immunity for protection against serious contagious diseases."
The need for a large level of herd immunity to quell the Covid-19 pandemic has prompted debate about the need for possible compulsory vaccinations in the face of scepticism among some populations worldwide about inoculations.
This is regression. They intend it to be a final one.
R.C.