Vaccination, Public Health, and Human Rights: Challenges within the National Legal Framework and Legal Implications of Parental Decisions in the Republic of Latvia

Description

In the Republic of Latvia, the rights of minor patients are strictly regulated by national legal framework. Despite the seemingly clear legal framework on the protection of the rights of minor patients in the Republic of Latvia, practice shows that legal challenges to balancing the rights of minor patients, minor patient legal representatives and the public to health protection do arise in various practical situations. These legal challenges arise mainly when the legal representatives of minor patients implement their right to refuse the mandatory vaccination of minor patients. For example, in the Republic of Latvia in 2024, there was a public case of the death of a minor patient whose legal representatives had decided not to vaccinate him against diphtheria or a disease for which vaccination is mandatory under national legal acts. Following this case, several questions have been raised about possible amendments to the national legal framework, including potential educational issues for the legal representatives of minor patients, possible liability issues for waiving compulsory vaccination of minor patients, possible exclusion from educational institutions and other issues. In addressing these issues, it is important to consider that the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights on vaccination and the right of legal representatives of minor patients to make decisions about their children’s medical treatment, including vaccination, are complex and balance between: the right of legal representatives of adult patients to decide about their children’s well-being and the State’s public health obligation, which may limit individual rights where this is necessary in the public interest, particularly for children who are particularly vulnerable to infectious diseases. Undeniably the experiences of the European Union Member States differ, which is why it is important to study these issues both in the light of human rights and in a comparative perspective between Member States.
Based on the above, the aim of research is to examine the complex interplay between compulsory minor patient vaccination, human rights issues, and the existing legal framework in the Republic of Latvia. The Authors in the research identifies the challenges within the national legal framework of the Republic of Latvia, and to avoid potential violations of human rights in the Republic of Latvia, propose potential solutions to improve the national legal framework.

Period	5 Aug 2025 → 8 Aug 2025
Event title	29th Annual World Congress for Medical Law
Event type	Congress
Conference number	29
Location	Istanbul, TurkeyShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International