Vaccination: Between autonomy and solidarity. The balance of principles from a global bioethical perspective in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

In the past decades, vaccination has raised important ethical issues, above all bringing out the conflict between some fundamental interests, such as individual autonomy and common good. In the contemporary health crisis due to the pandemic, vaccines are again at the center of the debate. Although they are a fundamental «weapon» against pandemic, they cannot be inoculated to all individuals, both for voluntary reasons and for causes independent of the will of the subjects, thus preventing us to achieve the so called «herd immunity». On the one hand, vaccine hesitancy is widespread; on the other hand, at global level, millions of people living in middle, and low-income countries have no access to vaccines. Acknowledging the principle of solidarity, along with connected values of cooperation, responsibility, and respect of vulnerability as the «axis» of the ethical discernment according to the global bioethical perspective, would give a response to the COVID-19 health crisis.