Effects of vaccination passport on freedom of movement : master's thesis

Nikolić, Nikola (author), Novak, Meta (mentor)

The COVID-19 pandemic made the governments to come up with measures like vaccination passports as a way of controlling the spread of the disease. In the process of writing this thesis, I analyze the effect of the passports on our freedom of movement and raised controversies regarding ethical questions legality, social justice and social divergence, I am going to research the UK and EU region while giving the examples and comparing some EU member states (Sweden, France), because its regulations largely follow European guidelines. I also examine how the restrictions impact different socio demographic groups, posing important questions around how fair they are, again declaring how fair access to vaccines were. I conducted an interview with Dr. Čedomir Sargić, who is the Head of Public Health at the Serbian Institute for Public Health, in order to collect more information about the health and ethical aspects of vaccination passports. Based on the interview, his observations indicate how, while vaccination passports may help minimize risk of transmission, they also came with issues of individual liberty and may inadvertently be part of discrimination unless supported by open communication, fair procedures, and institutions in which one has faith. The study tries to find a balance between public health and privacy of individuals, proposing how to manage and create ethical digital health policies. For vaccination passports to be trusted and safeguard people’s rights. The policies must be made with scientific transparency.

• Language: English
• Keywords: vaccination passports, public health, freedom of movement, ethical policies, social inequality
• Work type: Master's thesis/paper
• Typology: 2.09 - Master's Thesis
• Organization: FDV - Faculty of Social Sciences
• Place of publishing: Ljubljana
• Publisher: N. Nikolić
• Year: 2025
• Number of pages: 1 spletni vir (1 datoteka PDF (56 str.))
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-173996
• UDC: 614:351(043.2)
• COBISS.SI-ID: 253690115
• Publication date in RUL: 26.09.2025

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Učinki cepilnih potrdil na svobodo gibanja : magistrsko delo

Abstract

Pandemija COVID-19 je prisilila vlade, da uvedejo ukrepe, kot so cepilni potni listi, kot način za obvladovanje širjenja bolezni. V tej nalogi analiziram učinek potrdil o cepljenju na svobodo gibanja ter izpostavljam sporna vprašanja glede etike, zakonitosti, socialne pravičnosti in družbene razdvojenosti. Osredotočil se bom na Združeno kraljestvo, ob tem pa bom podal tudi primere iz EU ter primerjal nekatere države članice EU (Švedska, Francija). Prav tako preučujem, kako so omejitve vplivale na različne socio-demografske skupine, in postavljam pomembna vprašanja o poštenosti teh ukrepov, vključno z vprašanjem, kako pravičen je bil dostop do cepiv. Opravil sem intervju z dr. Čedomirjem Sargićem, vodjo javnega zdravja na Inštitutu za javno zdravje Srbije, da bi pridobil dodatne informacije o zdravstvenih in etičnih vidikih potrdil o cepljenju. Na podlagi intervjuja njegove ugotovitve kažejo, da lahko cepilni potni listi sicer pomagajo zmanjšati tveganje prenosa virusa, vendar obenem prinašajo tudi vprašanja glede osebne svobode in lahko nehote vodijo do diskriminacije, če niso podprti z odprto komunikacijo, pravičnimi postopki in zaupanja vrednimi institucijami. Magistrska naloga skuša najti ravnovesje med javnim zdravjem in zasebnostjo posameznika ter predlaga, kako oblikovati etične digitalne zdravstvene politike v prihodnje. Da bi bila potrdila o cepljenju zaupanja vredna in bi varovala pravice ljudi, morajo biti politike oblikovane z znanstveno trnansparentnostjo.

• Keywords: potrdila o cepljenju, javno zdravje, svoboda gibanja, etične politike, socialna neenakost