Two bills have been proposed, both addressing the anti-vaxxers and the need to protect others from the threats they pose. The bills are clearly a response to the ongoing growing threat of measles, which exists outside of Israel today as well.

MK (Kulanu) Merav Ben-Ami is authoring a bill that would compel schools to prohibit unvaccinated persons from entering during an outbreak, such as the situation today. This includes teachers, visitors and of course, pupils.

The second bill is sponsored by MK (Machane Tzioni) Yoel Hasson and MK (Bayit Yehudi) Shuli Muallem. The bill would result in developing a program that includes sending letters to inform anti-vaxxers to the medical consequences of their actions, and if they remain firm in their position, they will have to sign a waiver. They will be compelled to attend education classes, something similar to drivers who accumulate too many points for violations and are compelled to attend driver safety classes. If they fail to attend the classes, this will result in the loss of tax credits for the children, amounting to NIS 2000 annually. In addition, the bill will also authorize the Ministry of Health to ban unvaccinated children from schools during an outbreak. The bill enjoys the backing of the Association of Pediatricians and the Ministry of Health.

The bills have both been approved by the Knesset Law Committee and await additional votes in Knesset before being passed into law.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)