By upholding mandatory vaccination as a condition for enrolling children in preschool institutions, the Constitutional Court of Montenegro has sent a clear message that children’s rights to health and life take precedence over misconceptions and individual interests.

Protecting public health and the most vulnerable groups is an expression of essential social solidarity.

The decision is grounded in international scientific and legal standards. It recognises the scientific evidence that vaccines save millions of lives every year. It also recognises the position of the European Court of Human Rights that a state may prevent an unvaccinated child from attending kindergarten for the legitimate purpose of protecting the health and rights of others.

The MMR vaccine is safe. The MMR vaccine protects. Decades of research involving millions of children have conclusively ruled out any link between this vaccine and autism. Measles is not a harmless disease. In North Macedonia, 1,900 measles cases and four deaths were recorded during 2018–2019. By 2025, doctors at the University Clinic for Children’s Diseases in Skopje had identified two cases of subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE), a fatal complication of measles. During the same period, Serbia experienced a measles outbreak with more than 5,000 cases and 15 deaths. One case of SSPE was diagnosed two years after the outbreak.

Public health authorities and paediatricians still have considerable work to do to increase MMR vaccination coverage from the current 34% to the 95% needed to establish herd immunity and prevent an outbreak.

The Constitutional Court’s decision is only one step towards reducing the risk facing our youngest children, given the ongoing measles outbreaks in neighbouring countries. The ultimate goal is to build awareness within our community of the importance of timely vaccination and to establish the level of trust in vaccines seen in Scandinavian countries.

The Constitutional Court’s decision should be understood as a call for social solidarity and responsibility, rather than as a sanction. By vaccinating our children, we protect them and also help protect children who cannot receive vaccines for valid medical reasons.

We call on all parents to rely on official scientific evidence and the advice of healthcare professionals, to respond to invitations for vaccination, and thereby help us jointly ensure a safe and healthy environment in our kindergartens, schools and society as a whole.

NGO Ipso Facto — Dr Milena Popović Samardžić, epidemiologist and Executive Director
Dr Jovan Raičević, paediatrician
Dr Vojislav Pejović, PhD in Neurobiology
NGO Human Rights Action — Tea Gorjanc Prelević, Executive Director