France

Vaccination policies

France has signed the Oviedo Convention and requires, through various texts, the prior consent of the individual (or his representatives, generally the parents) to any medical act on that person. However, French law makes it mandatory for the general population to attend communities that include nurseries, nursery schools and schools.

A new policy requires all children born after January 2018 to receive 11 compulsory vaccines and this means that the number of compulsory vaccines has increased from 3 to 11. Before 2018, vaccination against diphtheria, tetanus and polio (and against yellow fever in the district of Guyana), now also vaccination against polio, whooping cough, measles, mumps, rubella, hepatitis B, the Haemophilus influenzae bacterium, pneumococcus and meningococcus C are made mandatory.

Parents who do not have their children vaccinated can risk up to six months in prison and a fine of 3.750 euros.

The law recognizes contraindication certificates, but they are generally overlooked or even ignored by administrations. Other vaccinations are mandatory for the practice of some medical professions.

The health insurance system gives a target premium to doctors for flu vaccines of a certain group of patients. Fix vaccine prices so that industries can find it profitable to present only new combined vaccines to increase their turnover. In 2007, vaccinations represented 12,6% of the turnover of general practitioners and 33% of that of paediatricians. This gives rise to conflicts between parents and doctors/administrations, sometimes even between parents. Refusal of mandatory vaccinations gives rise to lawsuits with heavy threats, but not easily enforceable. Administration abuses are the source of numerous controversies.

School

In France, unvaccinated children are not admitted to any nursery school (nursery, kindergarten) or any other school cycle.

homeschooling

Homeschooling is legal but severely limited by a new law proposed by French President Emmanuel Macron. Nearly 100 members of the French National Assembly and Senate have filed a petition calling for a review of the law and the scrapping of Article 49 of the new law, which imposes unreasonable restrictions on French families who homeschool.

The new law does not change the legal status of homeschooling, but limits it to four specific exceptions related to health, the family's travel status, medical reasons or other specific reasons related to the child's needs. The most significant change is that, rather than simply filing a declaration and practicing homeschooling under the condition of submitting to annual inspections and home visits by the government, the new law requires families who wish to homeschool to obtain a permit based on one of the four conditions established by law.

Currently, homeschooling families in France are "protected" by the previous law for the 2021-2024 school years, which is the Education Code, article L. 131, an additional decree and a circular.

For more information visit the websiteHSLDA.

Vaccination schedule

For more information visit the websiteEcdc.

Recognition and compensation for vaccine injuries

The State compensates victims of damage attributable to compulsory vaccinations. If they are aware of the possible origin and know the procedure, victims themselves can report the adverse event. Doctors are hesitant to recognize such events and the general public is often unaware of them, so that the number of reported adverse events is greatly underestimated.

Local organizations pro-freedom of choice in the therapeutic field