Corona Virus: Dutch boy wins court battle against his father for...

A 12-year-old Dutch boy has won a court battle to get a coronavirus vaccine so he can visit his dying grandmother, despite his father’s opposition.

The judge ruled that the vaccine reduces the chances of transmitting any infection to the grandmother with late-stage cancer.

The Netherlands approved the vaccination of children between the ages of 12 and 17 years, provided that both the father and the mother agree.

In the Netherlands, there is a growing reticence about vaccines.

Judge Bart Tromp, of Groningen, recommended that the boy be vaccinated quickly, because his interests were more important than his father’s.

The court documents said the boy wanted to spend as much time as possible with his grandmother, who has lung cancer and is “in the last stages of her life”.

The judge dismissed the father’s arguments that the vaccine was still in a “testing phase” and posed risks to the reproductive organs, saying they had no scientific basis.

He said that although children do not suffer from severe illness due to infection with the virus, their illness may last for a long time.

The judge pointed out that the chances of children transmitting the infection to others are small.

The child’s mother – who is divorced from his father – upheld the court’s decision.

Dutch law allows a judge to make a ruling that is in the best interests of the child, in the event that the parents do not agree.