Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 1, 2025

Working with Human Tissues for Translational Cancer Research
Published on: November 26, 2015
Vaccine refusal/ hesitancy- the ethical standpoint regarding the COVID-19 pandemic
1Administração Regional de Saúde do Centro, Agrupamento de Centros de Saúde do Baixo Mondego. Coimbra, Portugal.
Objective:
To reflect about vaccine hesitancy from ethical and bioethical perspectives.
Methodology:
Reflective study through the analysis of bibliographic research carried out from December 2020 to May 2021 in the data banks SciELO, PubMed, Direção Geral da Saúde, and Ordem dos Enfermeiros.
Results:
Vaccination aims at collective protection. The effects desirable in the individual do not have the same ethical value in the collective, leading to cost-benefit imbalances. The insufficiency of principlist Bioethics leads us to use other moral values, such as responsibility, solidarity, and social justice, to reflect on problems related to vaccination.
Conclusion:
In ethics there are no perfect solutions, and they depend on the context. Group immunity is one of the most discussed issues in a pandemic. Equitable distribution and the principle of justice are reflected daily in the nursing profession.
Related Concept Videos
Ethics and Bioethics
Ethical Dilemmas I
Let us explore some examples to understand the potentially complex moral decisions nurses face.
Take the case of caring for minors, particularly in areas related to reproductive...
Vaccinations
Ethical Issues
Ethical Concerns in Healthcare:
Ethical Dilemmas II
Obedience

