Immunisation orders

In re C (a child) (immunisation: parental rights) In re F (a child) (immunisation: parental rights) CA TLR 15 August

The Court of Appeal in dismissing the appeal by the mothers of two girls aged 4 and 10 from an order granting the fathers’ applications for a specific issue order under s8 of the Children Act 1989 that the child in each case should receive the range of immunisation appropriate to her age described the mothers’ cases as being based on ‘junk science’ and castigated a general practitioner for allowing her deeply-held feelings on the subject of immunisation to overrule the duty she owed to the court to give objective evidence. A one-parent carer should not take the decision to deprive a child of vaccination in the absence of agreement from others with parental responsibility for that child. Such a decision required the agreement of all those with parental responsibility, or a decision of the court to settle their dispute.