A person’s vaccination may be mandatory or recommended. Mandatory vaccination may be required for persons working in particular jobs (e.g., in health care) and for schoolchildren and students.
A person’s vaccination may be mandatory or recommended. In Latvia, mandatory vaccines are determined by the Cabinet of Ministers.
Each EU country has a separate immunisation programme and an approved vaccination calendar.
Mandatory vaccination and patient rights
The term “mandatory vaccination” should not be misunderstood: people are not forced to be vaccinated. The word “mandatory” is used because such vaccination is a precondition for certain professions and activities (attending kindergarten, school, etc.).
Latvian legislation defines diseases against which vaccination is mandatory, as well as groups of people for whom some vaccines are mandatory in order to protect individual and public health.
Mandatory vaccination is funded by the State.
example If your child is not allowed to attend their preschool by the administration because of the lack of vaccination, this is not a violation of your right to private and family life. Such measures may be legitimately imposed to protect the health of others and of a child as well.
Patient rights also apply in the context of vaccination. This means that you can:
- receive information about vaccination
- choose whether to get vaccinated
- choose a vaccination institution
- refuse vaccination
If a person refuses vaccination, a medical practitioner must explain the importance of vaccination to the individual and for public health and, if the person does not change their decision, obtain the refusal in writing.
Mandatory vaccination for high-risk groups
Some vaccinations are mandatory for persons who may get infected or infect surrounding persons in vulnerable state while performing their work duties and includes:
- medical practitioners
- persons who wash and sterilise medical instruments, and cleaners and employees at laundries
- medical students and medical school trainees
- persons providing manicure/pedicure services and tattooing/piercing procedures
- specialists in veterinary medicine
- employees at virology laboratories
- forest workers, etc.
These mandatory vaccines include: Hepatitis B, rabies, tickborne encephalitis and yellow fever.
Recommended vaccination
The recommended vaccines preventing persons from catching different infectious diseases are determined by the national health protection systems of the states. Most often these vaccines, with some exceptions, are not state-funded.
example Vaccination against seasonal flu is a recommended vaccine in Latvia.
note In Latvia, yearly vaccination against seasonal flu is state-funded for the following high-risk groups:
- minors under 17 years of age
- people with chronic or immune diseases
- pregnant women
- medical personnel and medical support personnel
- employees at long-term social care centres
- clients at long-term social care centres
- persons over 50 years of age and over
- persons with mental illness