The Right of the Child to Be Vaccinated as Derived from the Right to Life: The Perspective of Polish Public Law

Abstract

This article examines the debate surrounding the right to vaccination in the context of increasing vaccine hesitancy. The study posits that children’s right to vaccination results from their fundamental right to life. The first section explores the normative expansion of human rights and the implications of recognizing children’s vaccination as a right. The second section assesses the potential consequences of the recognition of the child’s right to be vaccinated as being derived from the right to life. The final section analyses Polish legislation on mandatory vaccinations for children, evaluating its effectiveness in protecting the right. The paper concludes that the recognition of children’s right to be vaccinated requires legal protections comparable to those for the right to life, highlighting vaccination’s critical role in safeguarding individual and public health, and that Polish law needs to be more effective in protecting the child’s right to be vaccinated.