06 January 2022
Researchers contend that mandatory vaccinations do not violate human rights
Researchers from The Dickson Poon School of Law, King’s College London, and UCL, argue that vaccination mandates should not be seen as necessarily unethical or in conflict with human rights, in a new article published in The Lancet.
In the article, Professor Octavio Ferraz, Co-Director of the Transnational Law Institute, and Professor Jeff King and Dr Andrew Jones from UCL, make the case that where a mandatory vaccination scheme aims in part or whole to reduce harm to others, there is a compelling rights-based case for a state duty to consider adopting mandates and that such laws do not violate any general right to liberty.
However, the team maintains that a careful approach needs to be taken by those enforcing vaccine mandate schemes. The article includes a range of recommendations for the creation of such schemes, and emphasises the importance of including a consultation period when drafting bills.
The researchers make their case based on extensive discussion and analysis held as part of the Lex-Atlas: Covid-19 (LAC19) project, an open-access resource providing scholarly report and analysis of national legal responses to Covid-19 around the world. Lex-Atlas: Covid-19 is led by Professor Octavio Ferraz and Professor Jeff King.
Read the article in The Lancet: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(21)02873-7/fulltext
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Professor of Law