{"title":"SARS-COV-2 Vaccination and Employment: the Legal Framework in the EU and Hungary","authors":"Mária Éva Földes, C. Kaposvári","doi":"10.18690/mls.14.2.247-270.2021","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18690/mls.14.2.247-270.2021","url":null,"abstract":"The paper explores whether and under what conditions, vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 may become a mandatory requirement for employees. It includes a discussion on EU action on SARS-CoV-2 vaccination and its relevance for national level policy with emphasis on the legal basis and instruments used by the Union to persuade national authorities into action to increase vaccination uptake. The analysis then moves to the national level by focusing on the case of Hungary. Following an overview of the legal and regulatory framework for SARS-CoV-2 vaccines deployment, the analysis zooms into the sphere of employment and explores whether and how the SARS-CoV-2 vaccination may be turned into a mandatory workplace safety requirement. The paper highlights the decision of the Hungarian government to introduce compulsory vaccination for employees in the healthcare sector, and concludes with a discussion of the relevant rules and their potential, broader implications.","PeriodicalId":40345,"journal":{"name":"Medicine Law & Society","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2021-10-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47196543","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"National Legal Framework to Protect the Right to Health and Right to Provide Health Care during the Covid Emergency Situation in Latvia","authors":"S. Olsena, Laura Kadile","doi":"10.18690/mls.14.2.461-482.2021","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18690/mls.14.2.461-482.2021","url":null,"abstract":"Global public health emergency due to the spread of Covid-19 required the government of Latvia to implement necessary measures to control the virus. Numerous measures were introduced as novel legal requirements for the general public as well as for users and providers of health care. Numerous legal provisions established restrictions on the rights of patients and health care institutions. Our study aimed to explore how a human rights-based approach might be and is integrated into national responses to the Covid pandemic in health care in Latvia during the first emergency situation lasting from 12 March to 9 June 2020. Our research showed that restrictions on the right of patients to receive and the right of health care institutions to provide health care services were introduced broadly. We established that the legal requirements for restricting human rights in health required by the Constitution of Latvia were not observed.","PeriodicalId":40345,"journal":{"name":"Medicine Law & Society","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2021-10-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48393249","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Human Rights during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Hungary with Special Regard to the Right to Have Contact","authors":"Orsolya Szeibert","doi":"10.18690/mls.14.2.395-418.2021","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18690/mls.14.2.395-418.2021","url":null,"abstract":"In Hungary, the government declared a state of danger in March 2020 as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic. The state of danger was lifted in June, but epidemological preparedness and state of medical crisis were declared by a government decree. In November 2020, the state of danger was declared for the second time, while epidemological preparedness was maintained. In February 2021, the state of danger was declared again. The list of the legal rules which changed and have been continuously changing because of the COVID-19 pandemic since March 2020 is extremly long and the new provision or the modifications have been heavily influencing the population's everyday life. The aim of this paper is to overview primarily the restrictions affecting human rights with special regard to the right to have contact as one of the patients' rights. Important issues of the parent-child contact affected by the COVID-19 pandemic is discussed, as well.","PeriodicalId":40345,"journal":{"name":"Medicine Law & Society","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2021-10-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46077243","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Tackling the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Economy and Labour – a Case Studey of Serbia Regulation","authors":"R. Sovilj, Sanja Stojkovic Zlatanovic","doi":"10.18690/mls.14.2.301-320.2021","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18690/mls.14.2.301-320.2021","url":null,"abstract":"The paper deals with the foundation of policy and legal national framework addresses, particularly, the adequacy of state measures in the areas of economy and labour as a response to Covid-19 pandemic. The aim is, by analyzing recent soft law documents of international organizations and the introduced models of comparative policy practices, to make critical considerations regarding the policy responses in the crises conducted by the Serbian Government. The human-centered, holistic, and integrated approach had been applied accompanied by the legal normative and comparative methods. Putting the current Serbian regulation in the context of the international area of policy emergency response, the territorial approach has been determined as most applicable, accompanied by the spatial coverage to the most vulnerable sectors. Government stimulation policy in the area of economy and employment in the Covid-19 crisis must be based on the rapid and reliable assessment of the impact of a lockdown or trade and job restrictions as on medium to longer-term recovery strategies of trade and employment. The principle of global and national solidarity, public-private partnership are core elements that need to be incorporated in the legal framework to tackle the impact of the Covid-19 pandemics in the economy and labour.","PeriodicalId":40345,"journal":{"name":"Medicine Law & Society","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2021-10-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49170039","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Law and Medicine: the Influence of Fundamental Rights on the Corona-crisis and the Influence of the Corona-crisis on Fundamental Rights in the EU","authors":"V. Trstenjak","doi":"10.18690/mls.14.2.351-370.2021","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18690/mls.14.2.351-370.2021","url":null,"abstract":"The article deals with the intersection of law and medicine, especially in the time of the Corona-crisis. It analyses restrictions of human/fundamental rights in the time of the Corona-crisis at the EU level. Conditions for restrictions of fundamental rights are provided by Article 52(1) of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. The case-law of the Court of Justice of the EU concerning the restrictions of fundamental rights in connection with health protection is also analysed. The last part provides an overview of some decisions of constitutional courts of EU Member States concerning the justifications of restrictions of fundamental rights during the Corona-crisis.","PeriodicalId":40345,"journal":{"name":"Medicine Law & Society","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2021-10-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43539232","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Russian Experience in Transforming Teaching Methods in Legal Disciplines in Course of the COVID-19 Pandemic","authors":"E. B. Luparev, S. V. Potapenko, E. Epifanova","doi":"10.18690/mls.14.2.499-516.2021","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18690/mls.14.2.499-516.2021","url":null,"abstract":"The purpose of the present research is to analyze specific features of educational process in legal sphere in course of the COVID-19 pandemic. The research objectives comprise the following issues: firstly, depiction of the initial state of teaching in legal sphere at the beginning of the pandemic; secondly, transformation process of teaching methods taking into account distinguishing features of the Russian legislation in the field of education; thirdly, correlation of administrative restriction practices with academic freedoms on the example of the Russian Federation. One of the results of this study is the conclusion that it is necessary to prioritize the study of the fundamental theory of law in comparison with commenting on the current legislation in order to be able to substantiate the regulation of non-standard situations in the life of society. The principal outcome of the present survey is a consideration that the Russian legislation in the sphere of education that requires implementation of such educational procedures components as training, education, scientific activity and upbringing cannot be completely implemented under conditions of the imposed administrative restrictions in course of the pandemic.","PeriodicalId":40345,"journal":{"name":"Medicine Law & Society","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2021-10-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48680331","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Compulsory Vaccinations against Covid-19 versus the Right to Respect for Private Life","authors":"Katarzyna Miaskowska-Daszkiewicz","doi":"10.18690/mls.14.2.419-442.2021","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18690/mls.14.2.419-442.2021","url":null,"abstract":"The development and marketing authorisation of COVID-19 vaccines has given the authorities a much-anticipated instrument to fight a pandemic. At the same time, however, for the extinction of the epidemic to become real, according to epidemiologists' estimates, the threshold of herd immunity must reach the value of 50-70 percent. To ensure mass vaccination, it should be considered whether a compulsory vaccination against COVID-19 would be an acceptable solution. It is a sensitive issue in the context of the right to self-determination, guaranteed both in Article 8 European Convention on Human Rights, as well as most modern constitutions. The aim of this paper is to investigate whether the compulsory vaccination against COVID-19 could be the next step in the fight against the pandemic. In particular, whether the current approach of the ECHR and national courts to compulsory vaccination can be considered adequate in relation to COVID-19 vaccines with a conditional marketing authorisation.","PeriodicalId":40345,"journal":{"name":"Medicine Law & Society","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2021-10-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42741757","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Extraordinary Measures in Extraordinary Times: Legal Response to the COVID-19 Crisis in Bosnia and Herzegovina","authors":"Igor Milinković","doi":"10.18690/mls.14.2.443-460.2021","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18690/mls.14.2.443-460.2021","url":null,"abstract":"The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly affected all aspects of people’s daily lives. In response to the pandemic, many countries declared a state of emergency. Extraordinary measures have been implemented to reduce the spread of the new coronavirus. Some of these measures require significant restrictions of fundamental rights and freedoms, such as the right to privacy, freedom of movement, freedom of assembly, freedom of expression, religious freedoms etc. In Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), the BiH and entity authorities adopted decisions to provide a legal basis for implementation of extraordinary measures. The paper deals with the restrictive measures implemented during the COVID-19 crisis in BiH and their impact on human rights realization. The relevant decisions of the Constitutional Court of BiH are also analysed, including the decision in case AP-3683/20 according to which certain restrictive measures are contrary to the right to respect of private life and the freedom of movement.","PeriodicalId":40345,"journal":{"name":"Medicine Law & Society","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2021-10-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46259433","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Violations of the Right to Health due to Limited Access to Protection of Health during the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Republic of Croatia and Possible Legal ImplicationsL","authors":"Nina Mišić Radanović","doi":"10.18690/mls.14.2.271-300.2021","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18690/mls.14.2.271-300.2021","url":null,"abstract":"The battle against the COVID-19 pandemic is still the most important problem and a great challenge for the overburdened health system in the Republic of Croatia. This paper examines the research into how violations of humans’ right to health occurred due to the inaccessibility to health protection for uninfected persons during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research implemented showed that a system of anti-epidemic measures which completely suspended or significantly reduced the possibility to access primary and hospital health care, stopped preventive programs of cancer detection. Much medical research has already revealed the possible harmful effects to people's health in the increase in cases of the contraction of and death from cancer and other serious illnesses, particularly in relation to certain vulnerable groups for example, women and oncology patients. The author concludes that the right to access protection of health during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Croatia was significantly limited and analyzes possible legal consequences which could occur due to the suspension or limitation to the right to access health care as a violation of the right to health.","PeriodicalId":40345,"journal":{"name":"Medicine Law & Society","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2021-10-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44196858","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sofija Nikolić Popadić, Marko Milenković, Marta Sjenicic
{"title":"The Covid-19 Epidemic in Serbia – the Challenges of Finding an Appropriate Basis for Responding to a Health Crisis","authors":"Sofija Nikolić Popadić, Marko Milenković, Marta Sjenicic","doi":"10.18690/mls.14.2.229-246.2021","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18690/mls.14.2.229-246.2021","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The World Health Organization declared the Covid-19 pandemic on 11 March, 2020. Serbia declared a State of Emergency (SoE) on 15 March, just days after the country’s first official case, part of an unprecedented global wave of emergency responses, with states reacting differently to the threat of the virus. Decision makers in Serbia opted to declare a SoE, followed by a series of governmental decrees and ministerial orders. This paper examines the Serbian government’s initial response. The legislation in force in March 2020 is analysed to explore what possibilities and instruments could have been used, with particular focus on legislation regarding infectious diseases and disaster responses, which allowed for the declaration of an emergency situation, and the introduction of legitimate restrictions to fight the outbreak. The paper concludes that the full potential of all available measures and instruments was not exhausted, especially regarding legislation relating to an emergency situation.","PeriodicalId":40345,"journal":{"name":"Medicine Law & Society","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2021-10-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48174327","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}