MANDATORY VACCINATION OF CHILDREN IN THE PRACTICE OF THE EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS

Abstract

A child’s right to health protection implies the responsibility of parents to take all necessary measures to preserve the child’s health, that is, the responsibility and the right of parents to engage in certain activities in realizing the child’s right to health protection. In the domain of child health protection, mandatory vaccination of children, as a special measure for protecting the population from infectious diseases, raises the issue of the scope of parental authority when parents, without justified medical indications, fail to vaccinate or refuse to vaccinate a preschool or school-age child. From both a theoretical and practical perspective, it is necessary to address whether the behavior of parents who fail to subject their child of a certain age to mandatory immunization can be classified as child neglect, or whether parents, as legal representatives of the child, may make decisions contrary to the child’s best interest, in accordance with their own beliefs.

            The complexity of the researched topic is the reason why the author approaches the phenomenon of mandatory immunization of children from the perspective of public health and parental authority derived from parental rights. This is done through the analysis of the case law of the European Court of Human Rights, which in 2022 ruled on a petition against the Republic of Serbia in this regard. The ECHR, in previously rendered decisions, has taken the position that mandatory immunization of children, when voluntary immunization is insufficient to ensure and maintain an adequate level of protection against serious diseases, is in line with the best interests of the child, as the interest of public health is a legitimate reason for limiting the right to the autonomy of the patient's will.