A 12-year-old boy had the right to get a Covid vaccine shot to visit his dying grandmother despite his vaccine-sceptic dad’s objections, as ruled out by a Dutch court.
This is one the first cases of its kind which took place in Netherlands, when this unnamed boy in the city of Groningen fought that getting the vaccine would reduce his chances of passing on an infection to her.
In the Netherlands, the children aged between 12 to 17 can choose to be vaccinated but need permission from both parents. In this case, the boy’s parents are divorced and his mother agreed.
However, permission has been granted by the district court Judge Bart Tromp for the boy to be vaccinated due to the “interests involved in vaccination, in particular, the interest of this minor”.
The Judge ordered that the boy be permitted the shot “shortly” because his interests were more important than any possible plea by the father’s lawyers. On Tuesday the judge made the ruling but it was not released until Thursday. According to the court papers the boy’s dad, who does not believe in vaccines or testing for Covid, refused to allow him to get a vaccine shot.
“The boy’s grandmother is suffering from lung cancer… He wants to spend as much time as possible with her… (but) is afraid that he may infect his granny,” court papers said. The boy “found it difficult to talk to his father and felt his pleas were not being heard”.
His father argued that vaccines “were still in a test phase” and said it was possible there would be “great risks for the reproductive organs in the long term”. But the judge said there appeared to be no scientific basis for such concerns.
