In the Hessian schools, the survey of the measles vaccination status has started.

By the end of the year at the latest, both the employees and the parents of the children and adolescents in schools and daycare centers should provide information as to whether there is immunity to the disease or adequate vaccination protection.

The chairman of the teachers' union GEW Hessen, Thilo Hartmann, welcomed the efforts to protect health in principle, but spoke of a “paper tiger”, especially with regard to schools, that puts an additional burden on teachers.

The background to this is the nationwide measles protection law, which aims to protect school and kindergarten children from the highly contagious viral disease. The survey was originally supposed to have taken place by the end of July. However, the deadline was extended to the end of this year due to the corona, as many students could not go to school for months due to the pandemic and the survey was therefore not possible.

The law obliges a certain group of people to prove a vaccination or immunity against measles.

All children from the age of one, as well as educators and teachers born after 1970, must be vaccinated or immune if they go to or work in a kindergarten or school.

The same applies to employees in community facilities, such as educators, teachers, nursing staff or medical staff.

Asylum seekers and refugees must also be vaccinated against measles four weeks after being admitted to a communal accommodation facility.

No job from the school

Hartmann said that the law is to be welcomed, especially to protect children with a history of refugees who have not had access to comprehensive health care in the past. He also considers the long-proven vaccinations against the disease to be absolutely sensible. However, from his point of view, the survey of the vaccination and immunity status should be carried out by the paediatricians and health authorities. According to the GEW state chairman, this is not a job for the school.

In addition, while daycare centers could exclude non-vaccinated or non-immunized children, compulsory schooling outweighs the obligation to provide evidence.

"That puts the schools in a very difficult position," said Hartmann.

Even if the required proof is missing, this has no consequences, except that the vaccination status has to be queried repeatedly.

"For schoolchildren this is more of a declaration of intent with an enormous amount of effort, and the resources with which it is to be implemented are not specified," says Hartmann.

He also sees parallels to the corona pandemic: Here too, politicians have issued many rules and evaded responsibility by delegating implementation to the schools, said Hartmann.

Fine if there is no evidence

The Hessian Ministry of Social Affairs pointed out that health authorities could impose a fine if there was no proof of vaccination or immunity. Specifically, the following applies: Pupils who were taught in school before March 1, 2020 or people who are already working there, must provide evidence by December 31, 2021. If this does not happen, the school must notify the health department immediately.

The health department can invite you to a consultation.

"Regardless of this, the health department can decide in each individual case, depending on the existing risks, whether a fine will be imposed after a reasonable period of time," said the ministry.

Measles can be associated with serious complications.

According to the Federal Ministry of Health, groups at increased risk are children under 5 years of age and adults over 20 years of age.

In extreme cases, measles can be fatal.