Judge authorises mother to vaccinate her children against father’s wishes

Judge authorises mother to vaccinate her children against the ongoing coronavirus pandemic against their father’s wishes.

This is one of the first rulings which has been handed down in Spain regarding children being vaccinated when divorced parents disagree over the course of action to be taken.

The 51st Court of First Instance of Barcelona has ruled in favour of a mother who wanted her two teenage children to be vaccinated against the coronavirus pandemic. Her ex-husband did not want the children to be vaccinated with any of the vaccines that are available at the moment. He also wanted them to miss out on any diagnostic tests for Covid carried out by their school.

According to 20 minutes, Judge Eva Atares has made the decision to prioritise the children’s health and that of society over the wishes of the father and the children. The children are aged 15 and 16 years old and had been convinced by their father to not get vaccinated.

The father had withdrawn authorisation for both vaccination and COVID testing as he claimed that there was a great uncertainty surrounding vaccines.  According to the court report the father had managed to convince the children to refuse the vaccines too. The court report explained that: “their father had been gathering information for many months about the side effects” of the various vaccines, “without specifying which ones, beyond generalities”.

The court ruling also said: “The administration of the vaccines does not involve an attack on the physical integrity of minors and the benefits of the vaccines, not only for the protection of minors, but also for society by preventing future infections, are far greater than the disadvantages.”

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