If parents do not want to provide proof of their child's measles vaccination, the health authority can threaten them with a penalty payment. This was decided by the Higher Administrative Court (OVG) of North Rhine-Westphalia in Münster in summary proceedings (Ref.: 13 B 1281/23 of 24 July 2024), thus confirming the ruling of the Minden Administrative Court (Ref.: 7 L 955/23).

The OVG refuted the view of the parents bringing the action and stated that, according to the Infection Protection Act, proof of vaccination or immunity against measles could be ordered by an administrative act and enforced by means of a penalty payment. The argument that parents of schoolchildren do not have the freedom not to vaccinate their child due to compulsory school attendance and that the regulation is therefore unconstitutional did not hold water either. The Federal Constitutional Court had justified the constitutionality of the measles vaccination in daycare centres on the grounds that it was voluntary, as there was no compulsory daycare (Ref.: 1 BvR 469/20 of 21 July 2022). The OVG did not agree with the parents on this point either; instead, it considered the situation in daycare centres and schools to be roughly comparable. This is because the obligation to provide proof serves to protect children and other vulnerable groups from the dangerous measles infection. Overall, the obligation to provide proof and enforcement via a penalty payment was not „manifestly disproportionate“ in schools, according to the OVG.

Your contacts for questions relating to childcare and school law in our practice are the lawyers Dr Beate Schulte zu Sodingen, Franziska Wilke and Charlotte Blech.