Abstrakt
In the Czech Republic, the programme of vaccination of minors has been very successful, effectively having eliminated several infectious diseases. Apart from the robust health system and other reasons, this success is supported by the compulsory nature of such vaccination.
Especially during the last decade, however, the number of parents refusing compulsory vaccination has been growing. There arose controversial topics such as conscientious objection to vaccination (addressed by the Constitutional Court in several decisions), compensation for potential harm caused by vaccination (which is the subject of a special law), or the vaccination policy of the Czech Republic as such (evaluated by the European Court of Human Rights).
The paper focuses on these topics as well as the more fundamental issues that are reflected in the discourse on compulsory vaccination: the collision of the rights of parents and children, the state interference with parental responsibility, as well as the relation between individual freedoms and the protection of public health, on the background of the contemporary human rights law.