According to reports from the CBC, an unvaccinated father in New Brunswick, Canada, has lost custody of his three children, one of which is a 10-year-old immunocompromised child.

The father offered evidence to the judge that he claimed cast doubt on the vaccine’s safety and efficacy, but the judge dismissed it.

According to the judgment, the father can communicate with his children via Zoom and reassess his sentence if he gets vaccinated, but the mother can override his lack of parental consent to have her children vaccinated.

Protesters against vaccine mandates and other restrictions have been holding rallies in cities throughout Canada for weeks.

The coronavirus is being detected in an increasing number of children around the world. The omicron variety, which produces less severe sickness but is more transmissible, is driving the most recent wave of the virus. Children are still significantly less likely than adults to be hospitalized or die from COVID-19, even with the new version.

Experts indicated that even if children have less severe COVID symptoms, they should still get vaccinated to minimize delays in their education, according to a World Health Organization paper released last month. They advised that children with comorbidities get vaccinated and boosted as soon as feasible to lessen their risk.

According to the WHO research, children with diabetes, Down syndrome, or heart, lung, or kidney problems are at a substantially higher risk of severe COVID-19.