As of March 2020, parents will have to prove their child is vaccinated against measles before sending them to day care or school. While the Health Ministry says the bill is "child protection," critics think otherwise.
The "Measles Protection Act" stipulates that as of March 2020 children and staff in kindergartens and schools, medical facilities, and community facilities must be vaccinated. These include residences for asylum seekers, refugee shelters and holiday camps. Parents who do not vaccinate their children of school age will face hefty fines of up to 2,500 ($2,749), while younger children could face a ban from day care facilities.
"My idea of freedom does not stop at my level as an individual," the health minister said. "Rather, when I sit here in a room like this with 500 or 600 colleagues, in a cinema or on a train, when it comes to community facilities, it is also a question of whether I am unnecessarily putting others at risk. And a measles infection is an unnecessary danger in 2019."
"Freedom also means that I will not be unnecessarily put at risk, and that is precisely why, from the point of view of preserving freedom, this law is a good law, because it protects freedom and health."