In a nationwide context marked by a sharp decline in vaccination rates, the province of Córdoba announced that it will adopt the health policy initiated by its counterpart in Mendoza, seeking justice and imposing sanctions on parents who do not vaccinate their children to ensure compliance with the children’s calendar. The truth is that vaccinations have fallen critically across the country and medical alerts are being issued here and there.
The Government of Córdoba specifically announced that it will reform an article of the Coexistence Law to penalize parents, guardians or guardians of minors under 18 who do not provide proof of the required doses. Penalties include fines and up to five days in prison or replacement with community service.
The initiative is not limited to punishment. The provincial health minister explained that the sanctions will be activated in the event of violations of the regulations from all sectors of the health system, whether public or private, and that the strategy is complemented by a strong territorial presence. “Vaccination teams will go out en masse in clubs, schools and mass events,” said the minister, recalling that this modality is already being used in nursing homes and at some festivals.
In Córdoba, the level of adherence to the calendar up to 18 months is 74 percent. The official goal is to reach 85 percent, a threshold that would prevent the return of controlled or eradicated diseases such as chickenpox, whooping cough or measles. The precedent for the Córdoba decision is the experience of Mendoza, who classified non-compliance with the calendar as a violation and began filing legal complaints; Afterwards, around 70 families turned to the vaccination centers.
An important part of the population, and especially young adults, are unaware of the risk that the emergence of vaccine-preventable diseases such as fulminant invasive meningococcal disease poses to the quality of life and life itself, as recently highlighted by the Buenos Aires Medical Association.
It is worth noting that the current health map confirms the return of so-called social diseases such as measles, influenza, flu, hepatitis A or B and meningitis due to pneumococcus in the country as a result of the decline in vaccination rates. Health officials across the country have highlighted this situation in reports that should be repeated until the population becomes aware of what is happening.
The regulations of the provinces of Mendoza and Córdoba go to the root of the inexplicable reluctance of parents and responsible adults who deny their children nothing less than the medical resource of vaccination, based on more than proven scientific evidence.
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