Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a serious overload of health systems in
many countries, as the disease has had many unexpected and unpredictable outcomes. The
number of patients has increased rapidly and with it the need to control the spread of the
disease. With the introduction of vaccines, ethical questions about vaccines and vaccines
began to arise. Purpose: The purpose of the thesis is to shed light on ethical aspects related
to vaccination against COVID-19 among healthcare professionals and factors related to
them. Methods used: A descriptive method of work is used in the thesis, which includes a
systematic review of professional, domestic and foreign literature. Twenty three articles are
included, to which we have free access. They are transparent, original and correspond in
their content to the title of the thesis. The articles used are are published between 2016 and
2024. Results: We found that there are a number of differences in health care professionals’
preferences for mandatory vaccination against COVID-19, depending on various
demographic characteristics. Specifically age, gender, occupational groups within the health
system, education, knowledge, prior influenza vaccination, positive attitudes towards
vaccination in general, direct patient care, and work in the COVID-19 department.
Mandatory vaccination was more likely to be opposed by younger people, women, nurses,
the less educated, individuals with lower self-confidence about the effectiveness of the
vaccine, and those who did not intend to get vaccinated. There are also various ethical
concerns that affect healthcare professionals’ decisions to receive or refuse a COVID-19
vaccine, in particular where they have concerns about the safety and efficacy of the vaccine.
In healthcare professionals, we recognise the impact of personal emotions, institutional trust,
accuracy of information, and doubts about vaccine safety. In addition, the importance of
reconciling the duty to care for patients with the individual rights and autonomy of health
professionals is stressed. Discussion and Conclusion: We have found that there are large
differences in favour of vaccination among healthcare professionals, and opposition to
compulsory vaccination is often very high. Mandatory vaccinations were more likely to be
accepted by individuals who had previously been vaccinated against the flu and by those
healthcare professionals who work with vulnerable patients. The ethical concerns that arise
with COVID-19 vaccination have been divided into several groups. The first group addresses
concerns about the vaccination itself – the effectiveness of the vaccination, the safety of the
vaccination, the potential side effects of the vaccine, the risks of vaccination, and
disagreement with vaccination. Other ethical concerns can also be highlighted, such as fear
of vaccine efficacy and safety, misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines, beliefs about
being forced to vaccinate, and the fact that health professionals believe conspiracy theories.
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