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MEMBERS of Parliament have advised Government, through the Ministry and Child Care (MOHCC), to invoke provisions of the law that allows for the punishment of parents who refuse to immunise their children against measles.
This comes in the wake of a measles outbreak.
Making a recommendation in Parliament, Norton legislator, Themba Mliswa, said the right to life must be respected, especially given children aren’t able to make their own decisions.
“My point of recommendation is that, can there be a public announcement, through national radio and television, when such an exercise is being done to make people aware and help officers, including departmental heads in various districts, to disseminate that information that every child is supposed to be vaccinated?” he said.
“It was the same again with the Covid-19 pandemic, other parents did not want to do that.
“We also talk about the very same constitutional provision of the right to life, that failure to do so, those parents will certainly face the full wrath of the law.
“So, that is where you can get people to survive by being very strict with them in terms of the law,” he said.
He also recommended that massive awareness campaigns be held to encourage vaccination.
Mathew Masinge
Online Reporter