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Health ministry issue advice for those of anti-vaccination beliefs on who to turn to for help
Czech protesters demand 'freedom' as new COVID restrictions go into effect for the unvaccinated
Protesters in the Czech Republic launched a fresh effort on Tuesday to prevent parents from opting out of the state’s vaccination programme.
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The new measure is a “persistent minority who claim the safety of the vaccine programmes is problematic”, the Czech Ministry of Health and Social Affairs said.
It also cautioned parents against “psychological blackmail”, or referring them to support services such as the Department of Disabilities or the Austrian paediatrician Marco Bertolucci.
Any child under the age of one seeking an exemption from the state’s vaccination requirement, which occurs every three years for babies, must produce a doctor’s note to be eligible, according to the ministry.
“Unfortunately, we cannot dismiss as trivial those who are convinced that the safety of vaccines is not possible in general and that one should not help anyone who will get sick,” it said in a statement.
There are some 2,620 kinds of exemptions granted by the ministry. For most ages, but not children under six months, parents have until the end of 2018 to apply for an exemption.
More than 100,000 children are eligible for exemptions, but only 11,412 requests were filed last year, health ministry statistics show.