Immunisation of a child against Covid-19 as a step in the implementation of the National Immunisation Program and parental authority. Duty or obligation?

Abstract

Another wave of the Covid-19 pandemic is approaching. Therefore, obtaining “collective immunity” should be considered a priority in the pro-health policy of the state. In view of the fact that the “safety threshold” has not been reached in our society – children from the age of twelve years have been covered by voluntary and free vaccination (as part of the implementation of the National Vaccination Program). This raises a number of controversies in the general public as well as in some narrow circles of scientists and physicians – mainly due to the relatively short period of development of the vaccine, as they claim, and the possibility of far-reaching (and yet unexplored) negative consequences of immunisation. This article attempts to answer the question: Is the immunisation of a child against Covid-19 a duty of the parents arising out of a legal relationship as part of the exercise of parental authority or merely a duty? In order to comprehensively analyse this issue, it was deemed necessary to present: the effects of the pandemic, as well as the lockdown associated with it in the socio-psychological context; the negative consequences of e-learning from the perspective of students; the essence of universal immunisation and preparations against Covid-19; the issue of immunisation of students as part of the implementation of the next stage of the National Vaccination Program (positive and negative aspects); the content of the legal relationship of parental authority, with an explication of the duties/privileges of parents as a determinant in the light of legal regulations of their competence to have their child vaccinated, taking into account 16-year-olds and their sui species status in this area. The analysis of the essence of the legal relationship of parental authority undoubtedly leads to the conclusion that subjecting the child to vaccination against Covid-19 should be treated as an obligation arising from its content in accordance with the idea of the child’s welfare and social interest, rather than a duty. The paradigm of duty could be referred to when considering the exercise of this power from the perspective of society at large.