Constitutional Court of Slovakia (Ústavný súd Slovenskej republiky), No. PL. US 10/2013, 10 December 2014

Constitutionality of certain legislative provisions concerning compulsory vaccination of children 

Article 13 of the Constitution 
Article 15 of the Constitution
Article 16 of the Constitution
Article 40 of the Constitution

 

1. Compulsory vaccination is constitutional. The State is under a positive obligation to ensure the protection of public health. The legislature’s decision to comply with that obligation by means of compulsory vaccination is primarily of a political and technical nature falling within a broad margin of appreciation. 

2. Compulsory vaccination could contravene the individual right to protection of health if it were to be administered despite medical contraindications or if any general adverse effects of vaccination were demonstrated. 
However, such was not the case. The duty on the attending doctors to enquire into the existence of any contraindications prior to administering any vaccine. In addition to healthcare providers, who were under a duty to report any suspicion of serious or unexpected side-effects of vaccines, any patient, or – in the case of child patients – their parents, could do so.   

3. The interference represented by compulsory vaccination with an individual’s right to respect for private life is accordingly justified by the interest in the protection of public health that it served. 
Mandatory vaccination set two constitutional principles in opposition with one another: the protection of public health and respect for private life. There were, to the existing level of medical knowledge, no other effective means to reduce or eradicate infectious diseases.