1

In 1904, some 16 years after the law abolishing slavery, the government of Brazil ordered "sanitary brigades" accompanied by police units to enter homes in Rio de Janeiro and vaccinate residents against smallpox by force. This action triggered the Vaccine Revolt, including in the predominantly Afro-Brazilian district of Saude. After 30 people were killed the authorities abandoned forcible vaccination, only to reintroduce it in 1909 after removing many working class people from central Rio and deporting hundreds of rebels by packet boat.

On what other occasions either in Brazil or in the rest of the world have governments carried out programmes of forcible vaccination?

  • @Federico - Yes, but not the requirement of vaccination as a condition of school admission when school admission itself is not compulsory. –  Nov 11 '20 at 14:44
  • 2
    The Wikipedia article on vaccination policy has a table which shows various countries currently having mandatory vaccinations against various diseases. – Philipp Nov 11 '20 at 14:44
  • @Philipp - Thanks! I had no idea there were so many instances. One can sort the table by "strictest policy" too. I will write an answer to my own question based on that page. But I'd be interested if someone has the details to hand regarding dates. –  Nov 11 '20 at 14:47
  • @Federico - Which such countries are you are aware of? –  Nov 11 '20 at 15:01
  • 1
    are listed in the wikipedia table and you already included them in the answer. – Federico Nov 11 '20 at 15:01
  • 1
    The article doesn't mention vaccination at birth. Indeed are any vaccinations given at birth? DTP is often given at two months. (The WP article on DTP is wrong to state that the British state health service the NHS gives it "to all teenagers aged 14". A "booster" is offered at that age, but it is neither compulsory nor universally accepted.) –  Nov 11 '20 at 15:09
  • yes, I used "at birth" in an extremely improper way. – Federico Nov 11 '20 at 15:19
  • 1
    How much force counts as forcible? In Canada, you can't attend public school if you have not been jabbed. – puppetsock Nov 12 '20 at 01:37
  • Related: https://politics.stackexchange.com/questions/65630/why-is-there-so-much-reluctance-to-make-the-covid-vaccine-mandatory-for-adults – JonathanReez Jun 10 '21 at 21:16

1 Answers1

3

(Many thanks to @Philipp for the reference.)

According to Wikipedia's entry on vaccination policy, the following 15 countries have a policy of forcible vaccination:

13 in Europe

consisting of

  • 9 which used to belong to, or were parts of countries that belonged to, either the Warsaw Treaty Organisation or Yugoslavia:

Bulgaria
Croatia
Czechia
Hungary
Poland
Serbia
Slovakia
Slovenia
Ukraine

  • and 4 others:

France
Germany
Italy
Malta

2 elsewhere in the world

Brazil
Indonesia

  • Germany has no forced vaccionations (and Wikipedia does not say it has). However as of March this year unvaccinated children might not be allowed to attend kindergarten and schools (and since school attendance is mandatory one might argue that this is forced vaccination through a backdoor). – Eike Pierstorff Nov 11 '20 at 15:23
  • @EikePierstorff the table shows a mandatory MMR vaccine for Germany – Federico Nov 11 '20 at 15:28
  • Ah I see. This should be probably be rather in the "nurseries, preschools and kindergartens" category. So yes, it is forced, but not on all of the population (which is how I understood the question), but only on people who are "betreut in Gemeinschaftseinrichtungen", i.e. cared for in community facilities. – Eike Pierstorff Nov 11 '20 at 15:49
  • 1
    However up until 1974 vaccination against smallpox was mandatory in Germany (was discontinued because infections had fallen to a point where the risk did not justify the potentially nasty side effect of the vaccines used back then). – Eike Pierstorff Nov 11 '20 at 16:07
  • 1
    I think you are confusing "forced" (a term not used normally) with "mandatory" (i.e. a legal requirement). People are not forced as such - e.g. armed police do not generally grab you and your children kicking and screaming and force an injection on you. – StephenG - Help Ukraine Nov 11 '20 at 21:13
  • 2
    My German children, born in 1989 and 1991, were inoculated against TB, diphtheria and smallpox immediately after birth. There was no way to contest this (and I would not have wanted to anyway). I gather they don't bother with smallpox any more. – RedSonja Nov 12 '20 at 08:49
  • Interestingly none are enforcing it for adults, though I guess it would only be relevant for immigrants and new diseases like COVID. – JonathanReez Jun 10 '21 at 21:15