TO VACCINATE OR NOT TO VACCINATE. BETWEEN MORAL AND CRIMINAL BOUNDARIES
TO VACCINATE OR NOT TO VACCINATE. BETWEEN MORAL AND CRIMINAL BOUNDARIES

Summary/Abstract: In the current social context, the issue of children's vaccination is a hot topic that has divided both public opinion and medical professionals into two belligerent camps that are fighting an endless war. The issue of vaccination can be approached from a multiple perspective but, by virtue of our specialization, we have proposed an objective approach that starts with morality and ends with the identification of legal boundaries, both in terms of the state's right to impose the vaccination of children, as well as the right of parents to refuse to execute such an obligation. Can we talk about a right and a correlated legal obligation in terms of child vaccination? What would be the rationale for editing imperative rules imposing such a task that can have consequences in terms of physical development, health of children and even their life? The act of criminalizing human behaviour must respect the desiderata of specific social peril level, necessity and proportionality. Is the penal intervention of the State on the issue of sanctioning the parents' refusal to vaccinate their children in accordance with these desiderata? Here are just a few of the ideas that we propose to discuss in the present study, which aims not to provide terse solutions, but to invite to an open, impartial and balanced dialogue.

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