ETHICAL APPROACHES ON THE COMPULSORY VACCINATION IN THE PANDEMIC CONTEXT (ROMANIA CASE)

Abstract

The present pandemic situation created the context for the promulgation of a new legislation for certain public health’s issues with the intrusion into the private life. In addition, the medical professionals say to be possible a return to the normal life only after the majority of the population will be vaccinated. Although the Oviedo Convention promotes, without exception, informed consent to any medical intervention, by enacting specific legislation for compulsory vaccination, it will no longer be necessary to obtain the patient’s consent. How will vaccination campaigns be implemented and carried out in that context? Can this approach regarding the exercise of external decision-making authority in the field of individual actions find other patterns of justification? What will be the impact of these mass vaccinations by compulsion on the individual? The purpose of this paper is to discuss the ethical aspects of mandatory vaccination in a pandemic context and to analyze the possible objections to it by referring to the history of vaccination’s oppositions.