We should not vaccinate the young to protect the old: a response to Giubilini, Savulescu, and Wilkinson.

Abstract

A recent article by Giubilini, Savulescu, and Wilkinson1 exposes an ethical issue that deserves careful analysis: should we vaccinate children to save the old? The answer provided by the authors is ‘yes’ under the condition that some circumstances apply, namely: (i) the vaccines provide better results in children than in old people; (ii) children are a vector for the contagion of the elderly, who are not adequately protected by the vaccine; (iii) there is only a small harm to the children; and (iv) this demonstrates to be the most effective strategy to save the greatest number of people. If all of these conditions apply, then we should target children for vaccination instead of the elderly, even though this might be considered as using children as mere means. In this comment, I would like to address some of the statements made by the authors, clarify some misconceptions and provide reasons to support that vaccinating children instead of the elderly is not a good idea in the case of COVID-19.