Call for moratorium on mandatory vaccines plan

A cross-party group of politicians have demanded a moratorium on plans to increase the number of mandatory vaccines from three to 11.

Health Minister Agnès Buzyn announced in August that the eight additional vaccines would become mandatory on January 1, 2018 - and the loi de financement de la Sécurité sociale bill that would write the changes into law is due to be voted on in Parliament.

At a joint press conference, the politicians, including La République En Marche's Blandine Brocard, communist senator Laurence Cohen and EELV MEP Michèle Rivasi said that they support vaccines as offering 'tremendous protection for the people'.

They said that they wanted to hear from all interested parties before voting so that they could make an informed decision - and that they did not want to be rushed into a decision.

Parents who fail to get their children inoculated could face up to six months in prison and a fine of €3,750.

Between 2008 and the end of 2016, more than 24,000 cases of measles were declared in France, official figures show. Of these, around 1,500 resulted in serious complications and 10 deaths. Fifty cases were reported in an outbreak in Lorraine in early 2017.