The nursery group Bubble Bees, present in five locations in Switzerland, will now only accept children that have been vaccinated for measles and whooping cough, according the newspapers Sonntagszeitung and 20 Minutes.
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The CHF 2,635-a-month nursery chain has nurseries in Zurich, Lenzburg, Schaffhausen, Frauenfeld and St. Gallen.
Switzerland has recently seen a sharp rise in the number of cases of measles. Between the beginning of the year and 6 May 2019 there were 166 measles cases, nearly eight times the number during the same period in 2018. The measles rate has jumped from 2.5 to 19.5 cases per million residents, according to the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH).
Group director Nathalie Rehak said that they were receiving more and more applications for nursery places from parents who are against vaccinating their children so they decided to clarify the rules and check vaccination certificates as part of the enrollment process.
According to FOPH this practice is legal. Unlike schools and public kindergartens most nurseries are private. They have no obligation to take children and can decide not to take unvaccinated children without any further justification.
More on this:
20 Minutes article (in French)
FOPH statistics on measles (in French) – Take a 5 minute French test now
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