Certificates for measles vaccination for students can be requested
Parents of a kindergarten student in North Rhine-Westphalia are opposing in several instances the requirement to provide proof of a measles vaccination for their daughter. A court has now put a stop to this. According to the court, authorities can request and enforce such proof.
Parents of a kindergarten student in North Rhine-Westphalia have failed in an emergency application against the duty to provide proof of measles vaccination for schoolchildren at the North Rhine-Westphalian Administrative Court in Münster. According to the court, such a proof can be ordered administratively and enforced with a fine. For school-going children or their parents, this does not constitute an obvious violation of constitutional rights, the court stated.
The emergency application was also unsuccessful in the second instance. Previously, the Administrative Court of Minden had rejected the application. The parents of the kindergarten student from Schieder-Schwalenberg argued in this that parents of schoolchildren have no decision-making freedom left due to the compulsory education.
However, this does not necessarily mean that the regulation in the Infectious Diseases Act is unconstitutional, the court explained in justification. In school as well as in day-care facilities, the legislator's legitimate goal of "protecting vulnerable, unvaccinated persons from a dangerous measles infection" is being pursued, it stated in justification.
Moreover, there is a high infection risk in the school environment. The proof of vaccination and its enforcement with a fine are therefore not "manifestly disproportionate," the court further explained. The ruling of last Tuesday is final.
Children in day care must be vaccinated
A court in Rhineland-Palatinate had also issued a ruling on measles vaccinations in March. If a child in Rhineland-Palatinate does not have immunity against measles, they have no legal claim to a day care place, the Administrative Court of Mainz ruled. The legal claim to a place is opposed by a statutory day care prohibition without measles protection.
The children of the applicants are not vaccinated against measles and have no other immunity. In November 2023, they were admitted to a kindergarten with a medical certificate of temporary immunization deficiency. After the expiration of the certificate, the parents submitted another temporary certificate.
The kindergarten informed the parents that the children could no longer be cared for from the end of February because a valid proof of medical reasons against vaccination was missing. The Administrative Court rejected the parents' application for continued care of the children.
In light of the court ruling in Rhineland-Palatinate, children without measles immunity cannot legally claim a day care place. This was the case for the unvaccinated children of the applicants, who were initially allowed to attend kindergarten with a temporary immunization deficiency certificate.
In the ‘Guide to Childhood Vaccinations’, parents are encouraged to ensure their children are vaccinated against measles to protect them and others from the disease. This aligns with the German Infectious Diseases Act, which enables authorities to request and enforce proof of vaccination in schools or day care facilities.
