On the Concept and Ethics of Vaccination for the Sake of Others

Summary

My PhD research explores the idea and ethics of vaccination for the sake of others. It conceptually distinguishes four different kinds of vaccination—self-protective, paternalistic, altruistic, and indirect—based on who receives the primary benefits of vaccination and who ultimately makes the vaccination decision. It describes focus group studies that were conducted to investigate what people who might get vaccinated altruistically think of this idea. The different kinds of vaccination are applied to ethical issues surrounding COVID-19, such as lockdown measures, routine or mandatory vaccination of healthy children, and the ethical justification of restrictive measures for unvaccinated people. A more general philosophical account of vaccination ethics is also developed, which is based not on moral duties, but on the moral reasons that people may have to get vaccinated for the sake of others. Such reasons may be stronger or weaker, depending on various factors related to the vaccines in question and the epidemiological circumstances.