Di Pietro Maria Luisa, Poscia Andrea, Teleman Adele Anna, Maged Davide, Ricciardi Walter
Istituto di Sanità Pubblica, Sezione di Igiene, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy.
President, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy.
Ann Ist Super Sanita. 2017 Apr-Jun;53(2):157-162. doi: 10.4415/ANN_17_02_13.
The opposition to vaccinations is a well-known phenomenon that dates back to the Victorian age when it was self-limited by the awareness of the importance to be protected against fearsome infectious diseases. In the XX century, the mass use of vaccination has - instead - consented to eradicate or drastically reduce the burden of diseases such as smallpox and polio. These positive effects of the vaccination campaigns have blurred out, if not erased, the memory of the tragic consequences of the past's widespread diseases, leading people to underestimate the severity of the harm that vaccinations prevent. In recent years, a complex mixture of contextual factors have promoted an amplification of that paradoxical situation, leading experts to study causes and consequences of the so called "vaccine hesitancy". Several studies have shown the impact for children and for the community of the refusal or hesitation towards vaccinations from different points of view, including epidemiological, clinical, social and economic evaluation. This article provides an analysis of vaccine hesitancy from an ethical perspective: parental, professional and public responsibilities are analysed and described according to the "responsibility of the fathers towards the children", as articulated by Hans Jonas in 1979.
反对接种疫苗是一个众所周知的现象，可以追溯到维多利亚时代，当时人们意识到预防可怕传染病的重要性，这种反对情绪受到了一定限制。而在20世纪，大规模接种疫苗反而促成了天花和脊髓灰质炎等疾病的根除或大幅减轻了其负担。疫苗接种运动的这些积极效果即便没有消除，也模糊了人们对过去广泛传播疾病造成的悲惨后果的记忆，导致人们低估了疫苗所预防危害的严重性。近年来，多种背景因素交织在一起，加剧了这种矛盾局面，促使专家们研究所谓“疫苗犹豫”的成因及后果。多项研究从不同角度，包括流行病学、临床、社会和经济评估等，展示了拒绝或犹豫接种疫苗对儿童及社区的影响。本文从伦理角度分析疫苗犹豫问题：依据汉斯·约纳斯1979年阐述的“父亲对子女的责任”，分析并描述了父母、专业人士及公众的责任。
