Once again, the Constitutional Court of the Czech Republic did not stand up for parents who refused vaccination of their child because of their conscience. The Court stated that a 6,000 CZK fine for each of them is not an infringement of the right of thought and conscience or their religious beliefs. According to the Court, the complainants did not state serious reasons for refusing vaccination. The League of Human Rights is representing other similar cases pending before the Constitutional Court.

According to a 2011 decision, sanctions may be pardoned only in individual and justified cases, for example when vaccination clearly contradicts the religious beliefs of the family. In such a situation, the state should not put pressure on those opposed to vaccination. "In the present matter, neither from the content of the constitutional complaint nor the discovered file material was there an indication that the applicants had serious reasons for refusing vaccination," says the resolution of the Senate, with Jiří Zemánek as the rapporteur.

The parents did not agreed with the vaccination because of the fear of health risks. They also pointed out that vaccination is not compulsory in other democratic countries. Similar general arguments are not sufficient in the eyes of the judges.

You can find the decision (in Czech) here: http://nalus.usoud.cz/Search/ResultDetail.aspx?id=83537&pos=1&cnt=16&typ=result