(Quito) Vaccination against COVID-19 has been declared compulsory in Ecuador from the age of five, a world first for this age group, the Ministry of Health announced on Thursday.
“In Ecuador vaccination has been declared compulsory,” the ministry wrote in a statement, specifying that “the obligation applies from the age of five”.
So far, only a handful of countries have made vaccination compulsory for adults. Two authoritarian states in Central Asia, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, declared it in July.
In Indonesia, vaccination against COVID-19 has been mandatory since February 2021 under penalty of sanction but only 35% of Indonesians were vaccinated in 1er December.
In the Pacific, the Federal State of Micronesia also announced in July compulsory vaccination for those over 18.
A French territory in the South Pacific with wide autonomy, New Caledonia has made vaccination compulsory for all adults from the end of December.
In Europe, Austria is the first EU country to want to impose vaccination on all its adults. The measure, announced in November, will take effect in early February.
Ecuador’s health ministry argued that the decision was constitutional. The law on health specifies that the executive power can “declare compulsory vaccination against certain diseases, under the terms and conditions that the national and local epidemiological reality requires”, explained the Ministry of Health in a press release.
Vaccination will not, however, be compulsory for people with medical contraindications, upon proof.
69% of the 17.7 million Ecuadorians have been fully immunized. About 900,000 people received a third booster dose.
Ecuador had made compulsory last week the presentation of a vaccine passport to participate in public events, access shopping centers, restaurants, cinemas or theaters, of which it reduced the reception level to 50%.