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Montenegro mandatory MMR vaccination

Updated 1 time since CLSTR started tracking revisions of this situation.

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2026-07-26 11:06 UTC → 2026-08-02 19:16 UTC · added ~~removed~~

Montenegro’s Law on Protection of the Population from Infectious Diseases, effective 1 September 2024, requires children to show proof of measles‑mumps‑rubella (MMR) vaccination to enroll in any public or private kindergarten. The law limits certification to paediatricians employed by public health centres and imposes heavy fines on parents, kindergarten operators, doctors and medical institutions that fail to comply. Vaccination uptake remains very low – roughly 50 % of children born between 2020‑2024 are vaccinated, and only about 13 % of those born in 2024, making Montenegro the European country with the highest share of unvaccinated preschoolers. No measles cases have been reported since March 2025. Legal challenges are ongoing. The Constitutional Court has scheduled a public hearing for September 2026 after three initiatives were filed by NGOs and a private petitioner, seeking a temporary suspension of the rule on constitutional and international‑treaty grounds. Representatives of the Parliament, the Government, the Ministry of Health, the Institute of Public Health, UNICEF, WHO and independent experts will be invited, and the court will request detailed epidemiological and enrollment data. In parallel, parents announced protests for September 2026, planning strikes in front of kindergartens and the Constitutional Court. A father said he would rather accept fines or imprisonment than vaccinate his child, despite epidemiologists confirming the vaccine’s safety. The protests are linked to broader disputes before the European Court of Human Rights and similar cases in Serbia and Croatia. Regional context deepened in August 2026 when Croatia’s Zadar County reported a 75.7 % MMR coverage rate, well below the >90 % typical of most EU states. Local officials called for reliable public information and for health authorities to lead the discussion.

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