ECtHR: compulsory vaccination for children in the Czech Republic is in line with human rights

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has just rendered its Grand Chamber judgment in Vavřička and Others v. the Czech Republic (applications nos. 47621/13 and 5 others), ruling that Czech rules imposing a general duty to vaccinate children against a number of diseases according to a statutorily defined schedule (and establishing non-admission to nursery school for children and sanctions for parents in case of unjustified non-compliance) do not breach the right to private life in Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

Noting at the outset that ‘present case relates to the standard and routine vaccination of children against diseases that are well known to medical science’, the ECtHR confirmed its previou