Ethics of vaccine refusal

Area of Science:

• Bioethics
• Public Health Ethics
• Moral Philosophy

Background:

• Vaccine mandates are often justified by claims of a moral obligation to protect others or public health.
• Existing ethical arguments for mandates often overlook crucial underlying premises.

Purpose of the Study:

• To critically evaluate the ethical premises underlying vaccine mandates.
• To determine if a moral obligation to vaccinate exists.
• To assess the ethical permissibility of mandatory vaccination.

Main Methods:

• Philosophical analysis of ethical arguments for vaccine mandates.
• Examination of the concept of agent autonomy.
• A priori ethical reasoning.

Main Results:

• The study concludes there is no general moral obligation to vaccinate.
• Ethical justification for mandatory vaccination is absent, even for risk-free vaccines.
• Agent autonomy is argued to have absolute normative priority over risk reduction.

Conclusions:

• Mandatory vaccination lacks a sound ethical basis.
• Such mandates constitute discrimination based on innate biological characteristics.
• Ethical norms are violated by mandatory vaccination policies.