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A Galician father may vaccinate his children despite the refusal of his ex-wife, who was opposed to the children, aged 7 and 11, adhere to the official vaccination schedule of the Galician health claiming that vaccination is voluntary in Spain. The father, contrary to this position, resorted to Justice and just got a sentence in his favor that forces the mother of the little ones to give them the vaccines.

The Sixth Section of the Provincial Court of Pontevedra has just issued an order confirming a previous resolution of a trial court appealed by the mother. The new judicial decision is firm and insists that most scientific studies on the subject lead to the conclusion that "the benefits of vaccines are undeniable at both the individual and the population level."

Both parents, neighbors of Vigo, initially agreed not to vaccinate their children, but last year the father changed his mind and decided that he did want to receive the vaccines that would correspond to him because of his age. Given the refusal of his already ex-wife, he chose to take this important decision into the hands of Justice.

Already in November of last year, the first sentence of the court of first instance number 5 of Vigo proved right to the father and argued that the mother's reluctance "is not backed by scientific or objective data," but she was not content and arrived the subject to a higher instance. Now, a new July car from the Provincial Court, dismisses its appeal and confirms the previous decision, claiming that it takes into consideration "the best interests of minors."

The magistrates of the provincial court assume that in Spain vaccination is not mandatory, but "a simple recommendation" and that the final decision on vaccinating or not the children corresponds to their parents, but concludes that, given the criteria faced by both parents, he must analyze the "best interests of the child" and this leads them to authorize the father to vaccinate minors.

Thus, they recognize the right of parents to "defend the beliefs they deem appropriate or the education and life system of their children that they deem most appropriate", but insists that this is "provided it is not harmful to them" and it happens to enumerate the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO), in favor of vaccines.

Although she does not belong to the anti- vaccine movement , the mother alleged "prejudices about the safety of vaccines." The magistrates took WHO as a reference to dismantle that argument, stating that vaccines are "one of the most successful and cost-effective health interventions known" and that "it has not been proven from a medical point of view that vaccines cause harm to Health".

The father is now authorized to vaccinate his children, but with conditions. According to the judicial resolution, it must do so "according to the Galician program and calendar of child vaccination", since the court understands that "it cannot be up to the arbitrator of one of the parents to decide on the vaccination", but must adhere to the provisions by the health authorities, in this case, the Galician Health Service (Sergas).

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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  • Galicia

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