Two faculty members associated with MEHP Online have recent publications about ethical and legal issues related to minors and vaccination. Assistant Faculty Director Holly Fernandez Lynch and colleagues explore the implications of off-label prescribing of COVID-19 vaccines to children. Dominic A. Sisti, who teaches in our continuing education programs, contends that “children and adolescents have the capacity to understand and reason about low-risk and high-benefit health care interventions. State laws should therefore authorize minors to consent to COVID-19 vaccination without parental permission."

Learn more about minors and vaccination from these sources: 

• “Off-Label Prescription of COVID-19 Vaccines in Children: Clinical, Ethical, and Legal Issues” by Jennifer E. deSante-Bertkau, Timothy K. Knilans, Govind Persad, Patricia J. Zettler, Holly Fernandez Lynch, and Armand H. Matheny Antommaria. Pediatrics, January 10, 2022. 

• “COVID-19 Vaccination of Minors Without Parental Consent: Respecting Emerging Autonomy and Advancing Public Health” by Larissa Morgan, Jason L. Schwartz, and Dominic A. Sisti. JAMA Pediatrics 175, October 1, 2021. 

Read a perspective from Holly Fernandez Lynch and Steven Joffe, MHCI instructor and Interim Chair of the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy

• “COVID-19 Vaccines for Young Children.” by Katherine Unger Baillie. Penn Today, February 22, 2022.