Alahmad Ghiath
King Abdullah International Medical Research Center (KAIMRC), King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh 11481, Saudi Arabia.
Vaccines (Basel). 2023 Mar 6;11(3):601. doi: 10.3390/vaccines11030601.
The new COVID-19 pandemic has affected day-to-day life, creating various ethical dilemmas. COVID-19 vaccination is seen as an effective way to halt the pandemic. Ethical challenges can arise when the vaccines are mandated for all ages, but more so when mandated for children. This systematic review discusses the pros and cons of the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for children. The primary objective of this study is to summarize exclusively the various ethical conflicts, impacts, and requirements that arise as a result of the COVID-19 vaccine mandate laws on children. The secondary objective is to analyze the reasons for parents refusing to allow their children to be given the COVID-19 vaccine sand the effective strategies to increase vaccine uptake among children. The study involved a systematic review, identification of relevant literature and reviews following the PRISMA-ScR recommendations. The keywords 'COVID-19 vaccine mandates on children' were used to mine the literature from PubMed and WHO COVID-19 Research Database. Limitations placed on the original searches were: English language, humans, ethics, and children. Out of 529 studies, only 13 satisfied the selection criteria. The sample included studies with a wide, diverse range of methods, settings, research, authors, and journals. COVID-19 vaccine mandates on children need to be scrutinized. Implementing the COVID-19 vaccination drive in a scientific way is acceptable. As children are the fastest-growing population and have the highest life expectancy, it is important to take into account that the vaccines do not disturb their growth and development.
新型冠状病毒肺炎疫情影响了日常生活，引发了各种伦理困境。新冠疫苗接种被视为遏制疫情的有效方式。当疫苗被强制要求所有年龄段接种时，可能会出现伦理挑战，而强制儿童接种时更是如此。本系统综述讨论了强制儿童接种新冠疫苗的利弊。本研究的主要目的是专门总结因强制儿童接种新冠疫苗法律而产生的各种伦理冲突、影响和要求。次要目的是分析家长拒绝让孩子接种新冠疫苗的原因以及提高儿童疫苗接种率的有效策略。该研究包括一项系统综述，按照PRISMA-ScR建议识别相关文献并进行综述。使用关键词“儿童新冠疫苗强制接种”从PubMed和世界卫生组织新冠研究数据库中检索文献。对原始检索的限制包括：英语语言、人类、伦理和儿童。在529项研究中，只有13项符合入选标准。样本包括方法、背景、研究、作者和期刊广泛多样的研究。儿童新冠疫苗强制接种需要仔细审查。以科学的方式开展新冠疫苗接种工作是可以接受的。由于儿童是增长最快的人群且预期寿命最长，重要的是要考虑到疫苗不会干扰他们的生长发育。
