Committee Chairperson Prof. Dr Slavica Djukic Dejanovic assured the participants that vaccination is the most efficient, important and inexpensive method for the prevention of communicable disease, adding that the Committee should spread the message on the importance of vaccines.

The participants of the sitting, Committee members and experts, were unanimous in their belief that vaccination is important, highlighting the consequences non-vaccination on children’s health. The participants of the sitting pointed out the need for media campaigns about the importance of vaccines and underlined the physicians’ role in educating parents. They concluded that the negative effects of vaccination are negligible compared to its benefits.

The participants also discussed the provisions and implementation of the Patients’ Rights Law and the Law on Protection of Population from Infectious Diseases. Dr Ljiljana Stankovic of the Clinic for Gynaecology and Obstetrics Narodni Front, informed the Committee members about the practical problems she comes up against in day-to-day work which, she said, stem from discrepancies in the legislation regulating the field.

Concluding the sitting, Committee Chairperson Prof. Dr Slavica Djukic Dejanovic said that anti-vaccination activities have harmed the prevention of serious communicable diseases and proposed that the Health and Family Committee employ the open-door institute and join the campaign to spread awareness on the importance of vaccination and educate the population. The Committee Chairperson added that the representatives of the public backing the opposite view should also be heard.

One of the conclusions of the sitting states that all legislative discords as regards vaccination should be eliminated as soon as possible.

The sitting was also attended by Minister of Health Dr Zlatibor Loncar, State Secretary at the Ministry of Health Prof. Dr Berislav Vekic, Director of Dr Milan Jovanovic Batut Public Health Institute Dr Dragan Ilic, Director of Torlak Institute Dr Vera Stoiljkovic, Director of the Serbian Medicine and Medical Devices Agency Sasa Jacovic, Head of the Ministry of Health medical inspection Dr Zoran Panajotovic, as well as representatives of the Medical Chamber and University Children’s Clinic and representative of the parents’ association dealing with parent education Dragana Socanin.

The sitting was chaired by Prof. Dr Slavica Djukic Dejanovic, Committee Chairperson.