Vaccination ethics

Journal article : Review

Introduction or background

Vaccination decisions and policies present tensions between individual rights and the moral duty to contribute to harm prevention. This article focuses on ethical issues around vaccination behaviour and policies. It will not cover ethical issues around vaccination research.

Sources of data

Literature on ethics of vaccination decisions and policies.

Areas of agreement

Individuals have a moral responsibility to vaccinate, at least against certain infectious diseases in certain circumstances.

Areas of controversy

Some argue that non-coercive measures are ethically preferable unless there are situations of emergency. Others hold that coercive measures are ethically justified even in absence of emergencies.

Growing points

Conscientious objection to vaccination is becoming a major area of discussion

Areas timely for developing research

The relationship between individual, collective and institutional responsibilities to contribute to the public good of herd immunity will be a major point of discussion, particularly with regard to the COVID-19 vaccine.

Authors: Giubilini, A

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Journal: British Medical Bulletin
• Article number: ldaa036
• Publication date: 2020-12-26
• Acceptance date: 2020-10-29
• DOI: 10.1093/bmb/ldaa036
• EISSN: 1471-8391
• ISSN: 0007-1420
• Language: English
• Keywords: vaccination ethics; public health ethics; FFR
• Subtype: Review