Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Nov-Dec;69(6):1081-1089.
doi: 10.1016/j.outlook.2021.07.011. Epub 2021 Aug 6.

Should nurses take a COVID-19 vaccine?

Alan J Kearns  1
Affiliations

Should nurses take a COVID-19 vaccine?

Alan J Kearns. Nurs Outlook. 2021 Nov-Dec.

Abstract

The issue as to whether health care professionals have a moral obligation to take a vaccine for a communicable disease is not new. Nonetheless, this issue takes on a fresh urgency within nursing practice in the context of the present COVID-19 pandemic, i.e., is there an ethical requirement for nurses to take a COVID-19 vaccine? This paper approaches the issue by using a hypothetical example of Nurse X who has inadvertently infected Patient Y. French's (1984a) Principle of Responsive Adjustment is adapted to claim that there would be a moral expectation that Nurse X takes a COVID-19 vaccine (unless there are justifiable reasons not to). The proposition is also made that, should Nurse X not take a COVID-19 vaccine, they could be morally associated with originally infecting Patient Y.

Keywords: COVID-19; Principle of Responsive Adjustment; Vaccines.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Aguilar-Díaz F.del C., Jiménez-Corona M.E., Ponce-de-León-Rosales S. Influenza vaccine and healthcare workers. Archives of Medical Research. 2011;42(8):652–657. doi: 10.1016/j.arcmed.2011.12.006. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Anderson M.B. Moral luck as moral lack of control. Southern Journal of Philosophy. 2019;57(1):5–29. doi: 10.1111/sjp.12317. - DOI
    1. Andre F.E., Booy R., Bock H.L., Clemens J., Datta S.K., John T.J., Lee B.W., Lolekha S., Peltola H., Ruff T.A., Santosham M., Schmitt H.J. Vaccination greatly reduces disease, disability, death, and inequity worldwide. Bulletin of the World Health Organization. 2008;86(2):140–146. doi: 10.2471/blt.07.040089. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Andre J. Nagel, Williams, and moral luck. Analysis. 1983;43(4):202–207. doi: 10.2307/3327571. - DOI
    1. Anikeeva O., Braunack-Mayer A., Rogers W. Requiring influenza vaccination for health care workers. American Journal of Public Health. 2009;99(1):24–29. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2008.136440. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

MeSH terms

Substances