האתיקה של כפיית חיסונים במערכת החינוך

The COVID –19 pandemic broke out at the end of 2019 and has already led to the deaths of a few million people. In 2020, several pharmaceutical companies announced that they had succeeded in producing effective vaccines and after approval by the various regulatory bodies, countries started to vaccinate their citizens. With the start of the global campaign to vaccinate the world’s population against COVID –19, there was a strong renewal of the debate about the possibility of enforcing vaccination, either directly or indirectly. This article presents the stand that Jewish ethics takes on this issue. According to the norms of Jewish ethics, a moral person has an obligation toward his fellows and G–d to be vaccinated. Notwithstanding the importance of vaccination, Jewish ethics does not allow direct coercion but recognizes that someone who does not get vaccinated presents a danger to the public and so can be prevented from circulating freely.