Can you be legally forced to get the Covid-19 vaccine?

Marketing and Communication Department. AGM Abogados

For several months now, different pharmaceutical companies have been competing in the race to obtain the COVID-19 vaccine. During this time there has been a lot of speculation about each one of them and this has caused a large part of the world’s population to doubt whether to get the vaccine or not.

In the UK, the first doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech pharmacist’s vaccine have started this week, but only a third of the population is in favour of its administration. The same is true for the French, who will start administering it in January. In the case of Spain, more than forty percent of the population prefers not to be vaccinated.

Although several European governments are currently opposed to mandatory vaccination, what would happen if large percentages of the population in different countries refused to receive the vaccine?

Are there legal mechanisms to enforce them?

Our partner Miquel Morales Sabalete, from the Litigation and Arbitration area of AGM Abogados, explained to Euronews that in the case of Spain there are legal mechanisms to force the population. Despite the fact that compulsory medical treatment may affect certain fundamental rights recognised in the Constitution. Miquel explained that the obligation could be based on the Organic Law on Public Health which establishes that:

“They may take measures of examination, treatment, hospitalisation or control where there are reasonable grounds for believing that the health of the population is endangered by the particular health status of a person or group of persons or by the health conditions in which an activity is carried out”.

Therefore, if the health authority were to consider it, there would be no obstacle to carrying out a compulsory vaccination campaign.

Euronews recently published an article on the subject. If you want to read it, click here.

For more information, do not hesitate to contact us here.