French Lawmakers Oppose High Court and Public’s Resistance to Mandatory Vaccinations

by Pavla Karon and Bill Wirtz
Foundation for Economic Education

The French government announced that it might make 11 vaccines compulsory for children, adding to the three already mandatory shots (diphtheria, tetanus, and polio). Under the new jurisdiction, parents would be forced to follow a vaccination schedule including jabs against measles, hepatitis B, meningitis C, rubella, mumps and whooping cough.

This change of heart comes after the Conseil d’Etat, France’s highest administrative court, ruled in favour of parents who chose not to vaccinate their children, as the three mandatory shots were not available separately, but only in one shot combined with additional vaccines. The former Health Ministry opposed making these three vaccines available for people, which led the court to give the new government 6 months in order to find a solution.

Instead of working with the growing number of…