Could Switzerland impose obligatory vaccinations?

St. Gallen authorities want the current voluntary nature of vaccinations to be abolished.

Instead, as part of its new health law, the canton is planning to introduce hefty fines – up to 20,000 francs – for people who do not get immunised despite a vaccination obligation, thus endangering public health.  

If the vaccination mandate is enacted – despite mounting opposition to this measure (read more about it below) – St. Gallen would be the first Swiss canton to go above and beyond the federal law in this matter.

‘Recommended’ versus ‘ compulsory’

Vaccines had become a highly controversial and divisive topic in Switzerland during the Covid pandemic.

Though health authorities urged the public to get the shots, arguing that immunisations were the only way to prevent the spread of the virus and contain the pandemic, a vocal anti-vax opposition formed against the government stance.

As it became clear during the pandemic, vaccinations – whether against coronavirus or other diseases – are not obligatory in Switzerland.

Switzerland doesn’t mandate common childhood vaccines either – including those against measles, whooping cough, tetanus, and others required in many other countries around the world, including neighbours Germany, France and Italy.

And, unlike in many other states, vaccinations are also not required to attend public schools in Switzerland. 

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Switzerland is so lax about immunisations because, pursuant to the constitutional right of each person to “self-determination”, including in matters of health, “no vaccination is compulsory in Switzerland; everyone can decide for themselves”, according to the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH). 

(The same right to self-determination, by the way, also extends to matters related to death – hence Switzerland’s liberal assisted death legislation).

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Who is against obligatory vaccination?

One of the groups that had sparked the opposition to Covid vaccines during the pandemic, Mass Voll, sees the planned regulation as a dangerous precedent.

They argue that a vaccine obligation violates the human right to physical integrity.

Another movement, the Action Alliance for a Free Switzerland (Aktionsbündnis freie Schweiz) is also against this measure because, it claims, it would violate fundamental human rights like the freedom of choice.

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‘Vaccination without consent is not permitted.’

To understand how exactly vaccination is defined within the Swiss law – specifically, in the Epidemics Act – and whether St. Gallen’s move to make it obligatory is in compliance with this legislation, The Local addressed this question to the FOPH.

“Vaccination without consent is not permitted,” an FOPH spokesperson Céline Reymond told The Local.

She explained that The Epidemics Act does provide for the possibility of mandatory vaccination for certain groups of people in certain exceptional situations – for instance, healthcare professionals in a severe pandemic.

“However, such an official requirement has never been imposed at a federal level, not even during the Covid pandemic,” she pointed out.

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Is St. Gallen’s plan legal then?

“Under certain conditions and for certain groups of people, the cantons may declare vaccinations to be mandatory in order to protect vulnerable population groups – provided that there is a significant risk,” she said.

However, even under a mandatory vaccination order issued by the federal government or the cantons, “vaccination may under no circumstances be carried out by means of physical coercion,”  Reymond  said.

“No one may be vaccinated against their will. The revision of the Epidemics Act, which is currently being debated in Parliament, does not change this.”

Ultimately, as is always the case in Switzerland, St. Gallen voters will have to decide whether they want this measure to be enacted.