Israel
After measles outbreak, Israel moves closer to penalising parents who do not vaccinate their children
The bill, which passed its first Knesset reading this week, will now be considered after the April 9 election
January 2, 2019 14:01
The bill, which passed its first Knesset reading this week, will now be considered after the April 9 election
January 2, 2019 14:01Proposals for strict penalties on parents who fail to vaccinate their children are a step closer to becoming law after a bill on the subject passed its first reading in the Knesset.
The immunisation bill would see anyone who has not received vaccinations banned from the grounds of educational institutions, including kindergartens, schools and universities, during an outbreak of a disease like measles.
The legislation, brought by a cross-party group of MKs including Meirav Ben Ari (Kulanu), Shuli Mualem-Refaeli (HaYamin HeHadash) and Yoel Hasson (Hatnuah), passed the first reading on Tuesday.
It means that although the current (20th) Knesset is due to end in April when a general election will take place, the 21st Knesset will be required to continue legislating on the matter.
Well over a thousand cases of measles were documented in Israel last year, with the country’s health ministry confirming thatthe majority of such cases were either people who had not been vaccinated themselves, or who had come into contact with unvaccinated people.
Over 90 per cent of these cases were in the Jerusalem area, particularly among some sections of the strictly orthodox community.
The bill is understood not to be facing strong opposition in the Knesset from religious parties, however.
Israel’s Health Ministry maintains that the country has one of the highest immunisation rates in the world.
In theory, the ministry requires children to receive vaccinations including the MMR (Measles, Mumps and Rubella) vaccine by the age of one, with the injections free as part of the country’s healthcare system.
But thousands of children are left unvaccinated, with parents either neglecting or actively opposed to doing so.
One report last year from the Israel Hayom newspaper found that over 500 schoolchildren from four different schools in Pardes Chana, a town near Haifa, had not been vaccinated. The community subsequently initiated a campaign to promote vaccinations.
More than 500 children in London's Strictly Orthodox community received emergency vaccinations late last year after a measles outbreak believed to have been brought to the UK by Charedim returning from Israel.
The proposed new Israeli legislation will operate a strike system where schools will warn parents with unvaccinated children of the need to provide them with immunisation injections.
Parents who still fail to vaccinate their children will subsequently be required to attend a meeting setting out the crucial nature of vaccinations; if, at the end of the meeting they still refuse to vaccinate their children, they will have to sign a document to that effect, leading to them potentially losing income tax rebates of up to 2000 shekels (£420).
Ms Ben-Ari described the legislation as important: “Unfortunately we haven't succeeded in passing all of it in this term, but at least it will continue in the next Knesset.”
She said she was “grateful to the Health Ministry and Israel Medical Association for their cooperation” and thanked her fellow MKs for their support.
"We must do everything in our power to prevent sickness and death as a result of the irresponsible decisions of parents who choose not to vaccinate their children."
