Knesset advances bill to ban the unvaccinated from schools

21 November 2018, 2:07 pm

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Knesset members advance a bill that would give Israeli authorities the power to ban entry to all educational frameworks any child or person who has not been vaccinated against a disease when there is a national concern over an outbreak of the illness.

MKs back the the so-called “Vaccination Law” by 115 to zero in its preliminary reading, allowing lawmakers to prepare the bill in committee for three further readings.

The law, if authorized in all votes, would apply to all schools — from kindergartens through universities — and comes in response to an outbreak of measles in Israel, which was blamed on those who were not immunized against the disease. Hundreds fell ill with the infectious virus this year, and an 18-month-old toddler died in Jerusalem, the first such death from measles in 15 years.

The bill proposes that “in circumstances when there is a concern of an outbreak of disease against which there is a routine vaccination, educational institutes will prevent the entry to the institute any child, teacher or other person who is not vaccinated against the disease, according to the directions of the director-general of the Health Ministry, for a suitable period.”

— Raoul Wootliff