Not vaccinating in countries with unclear legislation?

May 7, 2010

Hi everyone,

We live in Serbia. Both my children were born here, at home, and neither has

been vaccinated. We are considering our options for the future. So far, we have

had no contact with any authorities, other than for the registration of the

kids' births. My youngest was a UC, and getting the birth certificate was a

logistical nightmare that involved lawyers, threats to send social services to

my house, and a DNA test to confirm the child was in fact mine. A local police

squad also came to our house before we were finally issued a birth certificate.

With that history in mind, I am extremely concerned about difficulties over our

non-vaccinating choices later on.

We were planning on homeschooling originally, but recently discovered that this

option is not open to anyone in this country, citizen or not. That's a totally

different issue, and we might still move away to be able to homeschool. My

dilemma is the following. Vaccinations are not mentioned in any laws as being

compulsory. The law on family does have a passage saying that " parents or

custodians have the duty to provide adequate medical care for minors " . This is

indeed what we are doing, but I suppose someone could interpret this passage as

parents having the duty to vaccinate. In addition, vaccination records are a

required part of the enrolment paperwork for school, which IS, in turn,

absolutely and completely compulsory. Therefore, arguably, vaccinations are also

indirectly compulsory.

I was hoping to hear from anybody who is in a similar situation or has anything

relevant to say about such situation. How should we proceed? I do not feel like

another six-month battle over legitimate and legal choices, like we had after

my son's homebirth. It was tremendously stressful on the whole family. What do I

do?

Openly admit that we do not vaccinate? Tell authorities we vaxed with a private

doctor or in another country, and do not have the records? Any third option? I

would very much appreciate any input on this!

Best regards,

Livi

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