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Mainz Administrative Court: Children without a measles vaccination have no legal right to a daycare place
Photo: Andreas Arnold / dpa
Children in Rhineland-Palatinate have no legal right to a daycare place if they do not have immunity to measles.
The Mainz Administrative Court has now announced that the legal right to a place is contradicted by a legal ban on care without measles protection.
The applicants' children are not vaccinated against measles and are not otherwise immune to it.
In November 2023, they were admitted to a daycare center with a medical certificate stating that they were temporarily unable to be vaccinated.
After the certificate expired, the parents presented another temporary certificate.
However, in the court's opinion, these submitted certificates were not qualified certificates.
(Af.: 1 L 98/24.MZ)
The daycare center had informed the parents that the children could no longer be cared for from the end of February because there was no valid proof of medical reasons against vaccination.
The administrative court rejected an application from the parents for continued care of the children.
General concerns about the vaccination do not count
The judges decided that parents would have to prove that children have been vaccinated, have immunity or that they cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons.
The certificates presented by the parents were based solely on the information provided by the parents and did not contain any information about which specific medical reasons spoke against vaccination.
General concerns about measles vaccination did not allow exemption from the vaccination requirement.
The lawmaker assumes that measles is one of the most contagious human infectious diseases, that infections can be severe and result in complications and secondary illnesses, the court statement continued.
At the same time, well-tolerated vaccines that provide long-term immunity are available.
aeh/AFP