North Macedonia Vaccine Row Keeps 200 Children from Schools

Education Minister Aeber Ademi said on Tuesday that at least 200 children are not being allowed to attend school because they are not vaccinated, but added that these are only the preliminary numbers that the ministry gathered from education inspectorates across the country, and that the real figure might be higher.

"These numbers might climb but the point remains the same. We should act even if it concerns a single child," Ademi told reporters on Tuesday.

He added that the authorities must respect the law, which prohibits the enrolment of unvaccinated children.

After measles spread across the country last winter, the Health Ministry was forced to proclaim a national epidemic in April.

Instructions were given to all the kindergartens and primary schools to make stricter check-ups and not to admit children whose parents refuse to vaccinate them.

This sparked several protests by so-called 'anti-vaxxers', who accused the state of discriminating against their children, but despite several meetings with the health and education authorities, no solution has been found yet.

This is not a new problem, as back in 2014, anti-vaxxers who believe that vaccination is harmful for their children filed a plea to the Constitutional Court, disputing the provision in the Health Protection Law that bars unvaccinated pupils.

The court decided the same year to reject their motion, noting in its conclusions that a law obliging parents to vaccinate their children is perfectly constitutional.

The Health Ministry on Tuesday informed that the measles epidemic is still ongoing, as well as precautionary measures against the disease.

It said that almost 42,000 children under 14 years of age have so far been vaccinated with the MMR vaccine...