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Portrait of Yana Litins'ka

Yana Litins'ka

Senior lecturer

Portrait of Yana Litins'ka

Breaking Vaccination Barriers among Migrants? Human Rights and Crisis Preparedness

Author

  • Yana Litins'ka

Summary, in English

Vaccination hesitancy is one of the critical threats to public health. The coronavirus disease pandemic reconfirmed that certain groups of populations are more reluctant to vaccinate than others, particularly migrants. This article examines legal obligations related to protecting the right to health in addressing vaccination barriers among newly arrived adult migrants, taking Ukrainians granted temporary protection as an example. From human rights law requirements delineated by the United Nations and Council of Europe, it maps out a framework of vaccination-related obligations. Furthermore, the article tests the framework created in one national legal system—Sweden—to show where the gaps in transposing obligations into national law still exist. To deepen the analysis, the interview study with Ukrainian refugees in Sweden is presented, which allows reflection on what obligations have not reached their recipients and resulted in vaccination barriers. The article advocates for further specification of obligations related to vaccinations in both national and international laws for better crisis preparedness.

Department/s

  • Department of Law
  • Public Law
  • Health Law
  • Norma Research Programme
  • Human Rights Law
  • Public International Law
  • LU Profile Area: Human rights
  • Law and Vulnerabilities
  • eSSENCE: The e-Science Collaboration
  • LU Profile Area: Proactive Ageing

Publishing year

2025-02-07

Language

English

Pages

1-21

Publication/Series

Medical Law Review

Volume

33

Issue

1

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Topic

  • Law
  • Health Sciences

Keywords

  • vaccination
  • migrants
  • public law
  • medical law
  • right to health
  • human rights
  • Covid-19
  • infection diseases
  • vaccine hesitancy
  • public international law
  • administrati law
  • Temporary protection
  • Ukraine
  • interview
  • positive obligations
  • preparedness
  • Offentlig rätt
  • Medicinsk rätt

Status

Published

Project

  • Improved preparedness for future pandemics and other health crises through large-scale disease surveillance

Research group

  • Public Law
  • Health Law
  • Norma Research Programme
  • Human Rights Law
  • Public International Law
  • Law and Vulnerabilities

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 0967-0742