A bill that would prevent unvaccinated children from attending kindergarten was submitted to the Parliament by MPs Albin Ceman, Dragana Vucevic, Dane Markovic, Vaso Obradović, Amer Smailovic i Nikola Camaj, and was adopted just ten days later, on the last day of December.
In principle, 44 deputies voted for this law, on the eve of the New Year's Eve, while only Nermin Abdić was restrained.
In this way, without consulting with experts and the interested public, the state did what it had abandoned nine years ago, when it withdrew the draft law on the protection of the population from infectious diseases due to opposition from the Protector of Human Rights and Freedoms and some citizens.
The Parents' Association believes that the system has done nothing to increase the coverage of vaccinated children, but has instead done what is easiest for them and denied certain rights to a significant number of the youngest citizens.
"A condition for children to stay in public and private preschool institutions of upbringing and education is that they have been vaccinated, except in cases of permanent medical contraindications for a particular immunization. A certificate of mandatory vaccination can only be issued by a selected pediatrician of the competent health center," reads Article 42 of the new Law on the Protection of the Population from Infectious Diseases.
Mihailović: A large number of children were denied their rights
"The way the Law was adopted shows us the intention and we believe that the Ministry of Health, the Government and the MPs are not aware of the consequences of their actions," the director of the Parents' Association told "Vijesti". Kristina Mihailović.
She believes that they have done much more harm than good, and that even those parents who trusted the institutions of the system, specifically the Ministry of Health, will no longer trust them.
Mihailović claims that there is nothing controversial about the fact that they care about children's health, on the contrary, but that the procedure is controversial. He adds that, despite the fact that the Ministry of Health last year published a Draft Law on the Protection of the Population from Infectious Diseases with a provision stipulating that vaccination is a condition for attending kindergartens, the public does not know whether a public debate was conducted, whether anyone came forward with suggestions and comments.
"This information is not on the Government's website. Suddenly, the draft was withdrawn, so the MPs of the Europe Movement and others came up with the idea to urgently submit a Draft Law, which was quickly adopted and entered into force, and we found out about it when a doctor appeared in the media. In this way, parents were presented with their new legal obligation," Mihailović pointed out.
She said that such action sends a bad message - that the system will not address the problem, while the state is in a bad situation regarding the coverage of vaccinated children precisely because of their negligence.
She reminded that there are medical professionals, even doctors, who give reasons against vaccination, but the system does not address this, but instead decides to deny the rights of a large number of children.
"We will see what our next steps will be, but in any case we will have to try to do something. The authorities are clearly not aware of the damage they will do in terms of trust in the healthcare system," said Mihailović.
A similar regulation has not been passed before.
The Protector of Human Rights and Freedoms opposed similar provisions back in 2017 and recommended that the Ministry of Health delete them because, as they believed at the time, the right to education and upbringing cannot be conditioned by vaccination. "Vijesti" is awaiting responses from the Protector's institution regarding the newly adopted law today.
The draft law on the protection of the population against infectious diseases, which was prepared in the spring of 2016, among other things, prescribed mandatory vaccination against tuberculosis, diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, polio, measles, mumps, rubella, viral hepatitis B and Haemophilus influenzae type B for all persons of a certain age. These vaccines are also mandatory under the current law. The draft law stipulated that vaccination against these 10 diseases is required for children staying in preschool and school institutions, as well as in institutions for the accommodation of children without parental care, except in cases of medical contraindications determined by a doctor of the appropriate specialty or an expert team for contraindications.
The Protector then believed that children's stay in preschool and school institutions, and thus their education and upbringing, could not be conditioned by prior vaccination.
Public Health Institute calls for stricter policies
Following the outbreak of the measles epidemic, against which the MMR vaccine is included in the mandatory immunization calendar, the Institute of Public Health (IJZ) proposed in August 2024 to the Ministry of Health to amend the law to restrict unvaccinated children from attending schools and kindergartens or to introduce temporary measures in municipalities where a measles epidemic has been reported.
The institution expected the Ministry to heed the suggestions and take urgent measures to reduce the risk of a major epidemic that could lead to an overload of the healthcare system, severe clinical symptoms, complications, and possible deaths. However, this did not happen at the time.
The previous law stipulated that a fine of between 100 and 2.000 euros would be imposed on a natural person, as well as a parent, adoptive parent or guardian of a minor, if they refuse and fail to provide a preschool and school-age child with vaccination against these diseases, except in the case of a medical contraindication determined by a medical doctor or an expert team...
According to "Vijesti", in previous years, several hundred such cases were pending before the misdemeanor courts annually. Data from the Higher Misdemeanor Court shows that courts mostly impose fines of 100 euros on parents, while the highest sanction in 2023 and 2024 was 600 euros.
Coverage at historic low
Epidemiologist at the Public Health Institute Milko Joksimović he said yesterday on Vijesti Television's Boje jutra that "the goal is not punishment, but the protection of children and citizens." He said that until 15 years ago, mandatory immunization coverage was almost 90 percent, while in the previous five years there has been a significant decline.
Joksimović said that coverage has reached a historic low - every second child born between 2020 and 2024 has not been vaccinated.
"The state has decided to pass a law to try to reverse this downward trend. Much has been done so far, but these campaigns have yielded short-term results. Therefore, from the next enrollment year, in order to attend state and private kindergartens, it is necessary for the child to have received all vaccines from the mandatory immunization calendar," said Joksimović.
UNICEF, he said Senad Begic from that UN children's fund, neither supports nor promotes mandatory vaccination.
"And for two reasons. The first is because there is abundant evidence indicating the limited effectiveness of such an intervention. And the second, perhaps more important, is that we absolutely cannot support any conditioning of one child's right on another, which, unfortunately, some countries apply," said Begić.
Bonus video:
