Mandatory vaccinations to access nursery and school?

[rickyrickygrimes]

I’m British but have lived in France since my youngest was 5 months old. Both my children had to have a full programme of vaccinations (I think it’s 11 in total) before starting nursery / school. I’m surprised to find out that there aren’t any mandatory vaccinations for children going into a group setting here in the UK and wondered how that would go down if it was required? Especially now that there seen to be rising numbers of children are not being vaccinated against serious illnesses such as measles.

I think it’s important to address WHY there is an increase vaccine hesitancy in the UK in recent years.

There have been 3 mentions on this small thread of home education and “anti vax” but no evidence whatsoever to link HE with vaccine hesitancy. Stereotype much 🙄

If you look at the facts and recent outbreaks, higher rates were found in certain ethnic minority groups and immigrant populations as well as in geographical areas with higher rates of deprivation. Without discussing these factors and looking at WHY these populations are hesitant you are all missing a crucial part of this discussion.

It isn’t about “trust” of the public and shouldn’t be. It’s about the state not getting involved in people’s private lives, and individual autonomy. I would argue that nearly all of those policies are government overreach into people’s private lives.

And I don’t think any medical intervention should be compulsory ever. All medical interventions come with risks. You shouldn’t force these risks into people. People should instead be encouraged and educated to make informed decisions.

If the public don’t trust you as politicians, work on that perhaps by being more trustworthy and less self serving, rather than bring in draconian rules to force people.

‘’It's like people not wearing helmets on bikes (why does that affect you) and not going for smear tests (again, how does that possibly affect you)?‘’

The use of the NHS, when these people then need treatment, at the cost of the tax payer does affect people.

Because some people think that their right not to get their children vaccinated means they should also have the right to access public services where their unvaccinated children will put other people at risk.

Personally, I'd go one step further- if you want to be covered by the NHS for treatment, you accept NHS terms and conditions, including getting vaccinations. If you think you know better than the NHS and ignore their advice, you should be required to get private insurance to cover further treatment. Which obviously, you won't need, because your Google "research" is more valuable than their medical training.

I could give you details of the people I know who are disabled or died from illnesses that vaccination in the vast majority of the population would have prevented happening. But you didn't seem interested for some reason. Hey, ho, carry on.

no , this is what went wrong with Covid. You can’t push anyone into a medical decision. My children are vaccinated, but never the government power like that.

ive met maybe one or two who haven’t vaccined their kids out of l hundreds so the media do like to exaggerate things just like they did during Covid

It maybe but it is still a possible side effect.

@NeverDropYourMooncupare you not saying the same thing, in different ways. That post is saying nobody can quote a case where a vaccine has caused that damage, and you are saying you can quote cases where NOT vaccinating has caused damage?

Should always be done with consent. Always.

I may have misunderstood the tone of the post, tbf, I took it as ;Have you seen what it looks like?' rather than 'Has anybody ever encountered a person with damage from vaccines?

Ah, totally fair point, understand. I was reading it as posted, and went with @SilenceOfTheTimTamsinterpretation. But yes, I could be wrong.

either way @NeverDropYourMooncupi agree with you completely

I know of someone who died from the covid vaccine. Their family are one of the families suing the company.

Lower rates of vaccination are not ENTIRELY due to anti-vax sentiment. There are obstacles preventing many families from taking up vaccines: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/jul/13/parents-urged-to-get-children-vaccinated-after-measles-death-in-liverpool

Put yourself in the position of a time-poor parent whose daily life is hugely challenging, who is working long hours and struggling to afford their bills. If getting an appointment isn't super easy, if people don't get lots of reminders, then vaccination is never going to rise to the top of their priorities.

This is where we need to start, by sorting out people who don't object to vaccines but just haven't had them. Then there are quite a few people who are vaccine-skeptics but not dyed in the wool anti-vaxxers, and providing them with targeted information will sway them.

I somewhat doubt that there are so many anti-vaxxers in this country that we need to use strong measures to compel them. If, say, they constitute less than 5% of the population then we can still achieve herd immunity without bringing them onside.

I’ve always wondered why vaccination clinics aren’t part of the baby & toddler health visitor drop-in session services. You don’t see a doctor at your vaccination appointment so surely a nurse can do it in the community. Once or twice a month you can pre-book to come in to the drop-in clinic and get your child’s jabs.

Much easier than making an appointment, sitting around in a waiting room etc.

That would be much more sensible. In my country they're part of the regular child healthcare clinic appointments, which pretty much all parents take their babies/toddlers/preschoolers to as they get their health and development check ups, and the vaccines are just done at the same time. So no need to make a GP appointment. And the school age ones are done at school so parents don't need to take time off work for that if they can't (though of course they are welcome to attend) - are those ones still done at school in the UK? I remember having my jabs in school (and mass hysteria when we got the meningitis C jab, with lots of people claiming to feel ill afterwards, myself included - because I wanted to get the afternoon off )

Speaking as someone who's paid privately for vaccines the NHS wouldn't give my DC for free, I think this is an unworkable idea. You need a population with a lot of trust in the state for that kind of thing. We don't have that, especially not coming after a pandemic where it was government policy to deliberately try and frighten lower risk people into compliance.

The UK is a democracy, so attempting to impose public health mandates on a public who don't want them isn't actually possible. We saw this in winter 2021-2 when isolation and masking rules were breaking down.

There are broadly two groups who don’t vaccinate- those who can’t be bothered and those who believe, for whatever reason, that they are making the right choice for their child and have made a conscious decision not to vaccinate.

The issue with denying access to nursery/school etc is that for those who can’t be bothered, often school and nursery aren’t high on their list of priorities either. Group settings allow a safe space for children where they can be monitored and cared for and where their absence is noted. If these children are excluded from accessing school provision entirely because of lack of vaccination then their neglect is compounded. They have no one looking out for them and the risk of them coming to harm is greater. It is never a child’s fault that they have neglectful parents.

To an extent the same applies to those who have made a conscious decision. Keeping these children out of education pushes them further outside the mainstream and into the echo chamber of the anti-vax movement. Their experience of people whose parents made different choices will be vastly reduced, they will miss out on educational opportunities which could help them make a different decision for themselves in the future. They will actively miss out on opportunities to make those decisions for themselves- no one is going round offering HPV vaccination to competent teens who are homeschooled and who, if in school, could consent to that vaccination themselves. They might not even know the vaccinations exist.

Money is something almost everyone cares about but we don’t actually have a universal benefit that can be denied. Child benefit is about as close as it comes but not everyone is eligible for that so withdrawing that couldn’t be applied to everyone who doesn’t vaccinate. It would probably help with a lot of the ones who can’t be bothered though and perhaps the ones who are only anti vax because of what they’ve seen on TikTok in passing and could be persuaded by losing the money rather than the ones who are really deep in to the whole thing (for whom steps like this will only further strengthen their resolve).

Personally I think vaccinations should be mandatory for children entering nursery/school. If you want to take advantage of state facilities then you should have to commit to this unless you have a medical exemption. If you refuse to do so without medical grounds and just because you don’t like it, then you shouldn’t be permitted to put other children at risk, then you can opt out of state nursery and education and do your own thing. I am aware of kids at my children’s school who are unable to have vaccines on medical grounds or who have serious underlying conditions and why should they be at risk because someone believes conspiracy theories. You do you, by all means, but you don’t get to needlessly risk the lives of others.

As an early years worker, it's near on impossible to get parents to keep kids home with fever, d&v, rashes ... they'd laugh in my face if I told them they needed vaccinations.

I agree with this so strongly. Measles is a hideous illness and even more dangerous for babies than older children.

If the vaccines your children have work then it surely doesnt matter about whether others have had them because your child should be protected

I agree it should be mandatory.

I’m think that health education should be mandatory as part of the school curriculum. It should cover sex education, vaccines, antibiotic usage, minor illness management and basic first aid. Everyone is going to need that knowledge at some point in their lives.

Shit, isn’t it? And before anyone comes at me with egg-whisks whirring, try talking to bereaved parents whose children could not be vaccinated because of medical conditions.

Not a great day at work, I can tell you. And for all of you who have refused to have your children vaccinated, I hope there is some sort of purgatory where this happens to you on repeat for infinity.

What about the ones who don't vaccinate because they have vaccine damaged relatives or friends?

Those who are living it/seeing it...

They never get mentioned.