Inducing immunity for the sake of others. Ethical analysis and justification of indirect vaccination strategies

  • Kraaijeveld, Steven (PhD candidate)
  • Verweij, Marcel (Promotor)

Project: PhD

Project Details

Description

Vaccines constitute one of the most important developments in public health over the past 100 years (Feemster 2018). From a policy perspective, governments can protect both individuals and third parties through immunization; from an individual perspective, vaccination can protect both the person who is vaccinated as well as other people. This raises important moral questions about the motives behind vaccination, specifically about the self- and other-directedness of vaccination motives. Sometimes, vaccination program specifically aim to vaccinate individuals in order to protect vulnerable third parties. Vaccination for the sake of others raises a number of questions, both conceptual and ethical. First of all, there may be more ways than one to conceptualize vaccination for the sake of others. This project will approach this question by distinguishing self- and other-regarding motives for vaccination, and formulating different kinds of vaccination for the sake of others. While vaccination can confer significant health benefits on others, an important question is to what extent one ought to vaccinate for the sake of others as an individual, and, relatedly, to what extent governments should promote vaccination for the sake of third parties. This is especially relevant given current levels of vaccine hesitancy and refusal, and, accordingly, low levels of vaccination coverage. Ethical questions are also raised about the relation between those who bear the burdens of vaccination and those who enjoy the benefits. If benefits for vaccinees are relatively small, so that only they experience the primary burdens, then it might be considered unfair that others enjoy the benefits. There are current no ethical frameworks for vaccination that fully account for self- and other-regarding vaccination motives. One must ask what the ethical considerations are when it comes to vaccinating for the sake of others, and to what extent governments may promote—and regulate—fair distributions of benefits and burdens. This is what the current project seeks to address.
StatusFinished
Effective start/end date1/05/182/06/23

Fingerprint

Explore the research topics touched on by this project. These labels are generated based on the underlying awards/grants. Together they form a unique fingerprint.