Health Ministry to Crack Down on Inoculations for Students

YERUSHALAYIM
Deputy Health Minister Rabbi Yaakov Litzman (UTJ). (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Deputy Health Minister Rabbi Yaakov Litzman is considering requiring all children who enter the Israel education system, from kindergarten on up, to get inoculations for childhood diseases before the first day of school. Rabbi Litzman has asked the director general of the Ministry, Moshe Bar Siman-Tov, to develop a working plan that would require parents to present documentation of inoculations when they register their children for school.

“As is well known, inoculations are the basic building bloc in preventing the spread of communicable diseases, and they contribute to the general health of children, and of society in general. The inoculations we recommend that children get are all well-tested and safe, and they prevent illness and the unfortunate complications that can result. Children without inoculations not only endanger themselves, but endanger other children as well and everyone else around them. The danger is exacerbated when a child is in an educational setting and sits together with other children in class.”

While inoculation rates in Israel were relatively high compared to other countries, “in recent years there have been instances in which parents refused to inoculate their children. The more children are inoculated, the more they [inoculations] protect against disease. There are numerous countries that will not allow children into schools unless they are inoculated,” Rabbi Litzman wrote, and Israel should consider doing the same.

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