Misdemeanor courts fined 144 parents last year and this year for refusing to vaccinate their children, and the largest fine imposed was 600 euros.
This is shown by data provided to "Vijesta" from the High Court for Misdemeanors.
"During the year 2023 and during the eight months of 2024, the misdemeanor courts had a total of 560 cases in which the parents were charged with an offense related to the refusal to immunize children, of which 353 cases last year and 207 cases this year," writes in the answers signed by the acting president of the High Court Larisa Begović.
The High Court for Misdemeanors explains that misdemeanor proceedings have currently been completed in 312 or 55.71 percent of cases:
"In 144 completed cases, a fine was imposed, in 61 admonitions, in 62 cases the proceedings were suspended, in four cases an acquittal decision was made, while 27 cases were resolved in another way."
According to the Law on the Protection of the Population from Infectious Diseases, vaccination is mandatory against ten diseases. These are tuberculosis, diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, polio, measles, epidemic mumps, rubella, viral hepatitis B and Haemophilus influenzae type B.
The same law stipulates that a fine in the amount of 100 to 2.000 euros will be fined for an offense against a natural person, as well as a parent, adoptive parent or guardian of a minor if he refuses and does not allow a child of preschool and school age to be vaccinated against these diseases, except in the case of medical contraindications determined by a medical doctor or expert team...
The most common minimum fine is 100 euros
Data from the High Court for Misdemeanors show that courts generally impose a fine of 100 euros on parents. This was the case in 63 cases, while 59 parents were fined 60 euros for refusing immunization.
Fines in the amount of 45, 70, 250 and 600 euros were imposed in one case. Parents who did not vaccinate their children were fined 120 euros in five cases, and fined 150 euros in four cases. Courts imposed fines of 105, 130 and 300 euros.
According to the statistics of the High Court for Misdemeanors, the largest number of cases was handled by the Bijelo Polska Court for Misdemeanors, which imposed 101 fines, 25 warnings, suspended the proceedings in 11 cases, while acquittals were made in three cases.
The court for misdemeanors in Budva sentenced 26 parents, reprimanded ten, and suspended the proceedings in the same number of cases. In three cases acquittal decisions were made.
Data show that the Court for Misdemeanors in Podgorica imposed the lowest number of sentences last year and this year - 17. In 26 cases, it warned the parents, in 41 cases it stopped the proceedings, and in eight cases it made eight acquittal decisions.
The vaccine is mandatory in the region and Europe
Due to the low coverage of children vaccinated against measles, with the MMR vaccine, Montenegro is currently facing an epidemic in three municipalities - Podgorica, Budva and Rožaje.
From April to today, 23 cases of measles have been registered, mostly in children under the age of five, and none of the infected have been vaccinated with two doses against this infectious disease, which can lead to complications and death, mostly in the youngest.
As many as 16.345 children of preschool age did not receive the MMR vaccine. The coverage of immunized children who have not yet started school is 61.6 percent.
By comparison, just 13 years ago, the coverage of children who received the MMR vaccine was 91 percent.
In May of this year, the Institute for Public Health (IJZ) proposed to the Ministry of Health to amend the Act, in order to prevent non-vaccinated children from attending kindergartens and schools.
Such a draft of the Law was created back in 2015, but was not adopted, due to the opposition of part of the public and the then Protector of Human Rights and Freedoms.
The law prescribing mandatory vaccination as a prerequisite for enrollment in kindergartens and schools is in force in many European countries - Italy, France, Germany, but also in Slovenia, Croatia, and Serbia.
Andrijevica, Mojkovac and Žabljak have the best coverage
Experts say that there is no collective immunity if the coverage is less than 95 percent.
Smallpox is most dangerous for children under the age of five, and adults are also at risk, given that before 1981, citizens received only one dose of the vaccine that protects them from this infectious disease.
According to the data of the IJZ, the highest coverage of vaccinated children who attend primary schools and go to kindergartens is in Andrijevica, Mojkovac and Žabljak and amounts to over 90 percent, and the lowest in Bar - 64 percent.
When it comes to children of pre-school age, the most vaccinated are also in these municipalities, while Budva has the lowest vaccination coverage - only 46 percent, followed by Bar and Ulcinj, where only half of the children were vaccinated.
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