Health secretary hasn't ruled out banning unvaccinated children from schools
Health secretary Matt Hancock has said that he hasn't ruled out speaking to the education secretary about banning unvaccinated children from schools – as has happened in France, Italy and certain US states – but that the UK was "not there yet".
Speaking on Talk Radio, Hancock said: "In America, they tried to do this and the courts stopped them, so it can be complicated. But, really, it's people's responsibility as a parent to do the right thing – the right thing for their own children as well as, of course, the right of the community that everybody lives in."
A ban on letting unvaccinated children in public places in Rockland County, New York was nearly put in place, following a measles outbreak, but was put on hold after parents challenged the decision.
Last week however, a Brooklyn judge stated that people living in certain parts of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, must be vaccinated.
Unicef reports that an estimated 169 million children around the world missed out on the first measles vaccine between 2010 and 2017 – an average of 21.1 million per year.
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