Poland’s Sanitary Inspection is collecting vaccination data from clinics to identify unvaccinated children after a report revealed a surge in vaccination refusals over five years.
NIK Report Reveals Surge in Vaccine Refusals
The Supreme Audit Institution (NIK) report has unveiled the truth: a sharp increase in child vaccination refusals in Poland. The report highlighted that over five years, the number of refusals jumped from approximately 40,000 to at least 87,000 children.
As a result, Poland is not achieving the safe vaccination level of 90-95% against diseases such as measles, whooping cough, or polio.
Sanepid’s Offensive Against Vaccine Avoidance
The Sanitary Inspection (Sanepid) is launching an offensive against avoiding mandatory vaccinations. Sanepid is collecting from primary care clinics (POZ) not only current but also archival data on children’s vaccinations.
The focus is on unvaccinated children and those who have “disappeared from the system” because parents removed them from their previous healthcare provider and did not enroll them in another.
How Sanepid Finds Children “Outside the System”
The vaccination cards, which contain a complete history of a child’s vaccinations, play a key role. As long as the card has not been transferred to a new clinic (because parents did not specify one), the reporting responsibility lies with the last POZ facility.
Sanepid is invoking regulations on combating infectious diseases and the Primary Care Act to justify its approach.
Mandatory MZ-54 Reports
Once a year, in the mandatory MZ-54 report, clinics must disclose the actual number of children under supervision, including those with contraindications, those abroad, or those avoiding vaccinations.
According to Sanepid, only complete data will allow for a realistic assessment of the scale of the problem and the initiation of procedures against parents.
