Polish lawmakers derail anti-vaccine drive
PR dla Zagranicy
Grzegorz Siwicki
09.11.2018 17:23
Polish MPs on Friday rejected a citizens' bill that aimed to abolish compulsory vaccinations for children against a number of serious diseases.
Photo: whitesession/CC0 Creative Commons/pixabay.com
In a vote that cut across typical party lines, 354 members of the lower house of Poland's parliament opposed the proposal, while 10 supported it and 16 abstained, public broadcaster Polish Radio’s IAR news agency reported.
Health Minister Łukasz Szumowski on Sunday appealed to parents to vaccinate their children despite a movement against vaccination.
He was speaking after a rash of new cases of measles was reported in and around Warsaw, alarming the public.
Szumowski last month said that the controversial citizens' bill seeking to do away with compulsory vaccines was of no value.
He told public broadcaster Polish Radio at the time that people needed to be educated about the benefits of vaccination, saying that vaccines saved lives and stopped the spread of disease.
Poland’s MPs had previously voted to approve further parliamentary work on the controversial plan.
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Source: IAR