The legal implications of obligatory vaccinations

Abstract

Vaccination has always been a controversial subject and like many other matters, vaccination carries both risks and benefits. Maltese legislation enforces on parents the responsibility to immunize their child against a number of vaccine preventable diseases. In the case were such child is not properly vaccinated, both the parents and the child risk severe consequences. The parents risk court proceedings being instituted against them whilst the child risks the contraction of a vaccine preventable disease, which may result to be deadly, as well as the risk of being refused entry into school. The dissertation questions whether the government is infringing upon parental rights when it imposes vaccination on children without taking into consideration the beliefs or opinions of the parents, or for the matter, the child; whilst also evaluating whether the government is in fact only protecting the child’s life and doing the utmost to ensure the child’s growth and survival. Furthermore, the paper also questions whether an unvaccinated child being refused entry into a school breaches the right to education. The paper analysis both Maltese legislation and international legal instruments as well as examines several court judgements to further clarify the matter. As a result, the paper concludes that governments do not breach children’s rights or human rights when they impose obligatory vaccinations but only confirm and guarantee their responsibility to the children of the state to protect them and ensure their development and survival.