The Court of First Instance number 6 of Santiago, specialized in Family, has authorized a mother to vaccinate her eight-year-old daughter against covid-19, despite the father’s opposition. In this way, it has agreed to exclusively attribute the power to decide on the inoculation against the minor’s coronavirus. Meanwhile, regarding his four-year-old brother, the judge has decided not to attribute, for the time being, to either of the two parents the decision on his vaccination, since for the time being medicine is not authorized for this group and, therefore, Therefore, the decision must be made when he turns five years old.
The magistrate assures in the resolution that the “only perspective to weigh” in this case is the individual one of the minor, that is, “the identification of the greatest protection and the best benefit for her health”, while warning that they must other public health considerations “take a very long time” “given the voluntary nature of the vaccine”.
Thus, the judge highlights that, at the present time, it is “the only efficient alternative against the real risk of developing the disease” and, in addition, stresses that the possible risk to the minor’s health derived from its inoculation is “much lower to the certain risk of contracting the disease in the event of non-vaccination, no matter how mild most of the cases diagnosed to date are in that age group”.
In the resolution, it affirms that “aspects such as the possibility of forthcoming restrictions for the unvaccinated that may affect future extracurricular activities and even attendance at summer camps cannot be ignored, even when they have an indirect impact, traveling abroad”, among others.
In the order, the judge also emphasizes that the different European authorities and, in particular, the Spanish authorities have recommended vaccination in children over five years of age after weighing the alleged risks to which the girl’s parent alludes, among them “the absence requirement of prior individualized medical prescription and the risk of myocarditis or other secondary effects”.
In the resolution, it recalls that the vaccine has been approved by the European Medicines Agency and by the Spanish Agency for Medicines and Health Products, which allows, according to the judge, “to presume its preparation with the maximum guarantees of quality, efficacy and safety” . The magistrate also indicates that there is no evidence that the administration of the vaccine supposes “an attack on the integrity of the minor due to previous pathologies, diseases, prescribed medication” and others.
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