Fines for anti-vaccines | Germany will apply san …

The German government is seeking to apply a strong fines to parents who do not vaccinate their children against measles. The measure, which is still a project, provides for penalties up to 2,500 euros for children of school age. A total of 543 cases of this disease were reported in this country in 2008 and more than 400 have already added this year.

The German Council of Ministers on Wednesday approved a bill proposing fines for non-vaccination of children. The Bundestag, the lower house, must decide whether to approve this initiative, which will come into force next March.

"We want to prevent as many children as possible from getting measles because It is very contagious and can have a very bad evolution, sometimes fatal."said German Health Minister Jens Spahn.

The project also requires vaccinating children in refugee centers and also includes the exclusion of unvaccinated children from day care or kindergarten.

According to official figures, Last year, 543 cases of measles were recorded in Germany and to date in 2019, they are already over 400. The decision of the Council of Ministers comes at a time when, in Germany and in a large part of Europe, different groups are questioning the importance of vaccines.

More countries against anti-vaccines

This is not the first European country to take steps to stop the rise of anti-vaccine movements. In March, Italy pbaded a law prohibiting all children under 6 who do not have the daily vaccination schedule from continuing to go to the garden or nursery.

Italy is a clear example of the impact on the system of collective immunity generated by lack of vaccination: the World Health Organization warned that in 2017, more 5,400 cases had been recorded.

The warning about the progress of measles has also reached the United States, where last year confirmed the worst epidemic in decades. According to official data, about 1,000 people have contracted measles since the beginning of the year since the first cases were detected in the Jewish community of New York.
The virus was eradicated from the country in 2000.

In 2016, America had become the first region of the world declared measles-free; as was the case for smallpox (1971), poliomyelitis (1994), rubella and conbad rubella syndrome (2015). But 2018 has confirmed a new circulation of the virus and the resurgence of endemic transmission in Venezuela and Brazil, adding to the epidemic in the United States.