Likud MK Oren Hazan said there has been a dangerous trend of parents refusing to vaccinate their children.
By GIL HOFFMANUpdated: AUGUST 16, 2018 03:09Likud MK Oren Hazan(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Parents would be required to make sure their children receive the vaccinations mandated by the Health Ministry before sending them to school, according to a bill proposed by Likud MK Oren Hazan.Hazan, who is a member of the Knesset Interior Committee, said there has been a dangerous trend of parents refusing to vaccinate their children. He said this endangers other children in their classes.“We cannot allow parents who do not want their children vaccinated to harm the health of the public,” Hazan said. “I respect the rights of parents to raise their children as they choose. But the problem is that when children are not vaccinated, chances rise for our children to get avoidable illnesses and complications, and I cannot let this continue to happen.”Hazan said he suffered from health problems as a child, including asthma and symptoms of cystic fibrosis, which required him to be hospitalized regularly. He said it could have been even worse for him had he been exposed to additional diseases.He is the father of an 11-month-old daughter named Ori, who he said is healthy.“I don’t want anyone endangering my little girl,” Hazan said. “Every parent knows how at nursery schools, the viruses bounce from one child to another and that when one gets a fever, the entire nursery school gets a fever. In that situation, it is wrong to add more risks of additional dangerous diseases.”The Knesset returns from its extended summer and holiday recess on October 15. It is currently closed down for mandatory vacations of its employees.Hazan may have a very limited time to advance the bill; he said, however, that he was undaunted. He said he has received a lot of negative reaction to the legislation and it has only encouraged him to insist on more serious reforms of children’s vaccinations.“Without proof of vaccinations, there should be no entrance to nursery schools,” he said. “A nursery school has games for children. Their health is not a game.”