The effectiveness of medical measures to fight a pandemic cannot be reduced to their technical and scientific properties. For example, the success of the vaccination process depends partially on the information around them. Part of society may reject safe and effective vaccines if they are perceived as dangerous. Hesitancy to vaccines could translate into a threat to individual lives, public health, and the economy. Many measures may hinder the dissemination of harmful content related to vaccines. This chapter discusses the idea of “informational quarantine,” an ethical rule that should be applied concerning information crucial for counteracting the pandemic. It adds to the discussion about disinformation and the issue of the individual responsibility of the users for spreading it. This chapter suggests the time of a pandemic could be a circumstance that could justify introducing criminal law protection of information concerning vaccines that should be applied only during the course of a pandemic, for the most harmful ways of violating “informational quarantine.”

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Informational Quarantine: Should It Be Punishable to Spread Medical Disinformation During a Pandemic?

  • Kamil Mamak

摘要

The effectiveness of medical measures to fight a pandemic cannot be reduced to their technical and scientific properties. For example, the success of the vaccination process depends partially on the information around them. Part of society may reject safe and effective vaccines if they are perceived as dangerous. Hesitancy to vaccines could translate into a threat to individual lives, public health, and the economy. Many measures may hinder the dissemination of harmful content related to vaccines. This chapter discusses the idea of “informational quarantine,” an ethical rule that should be applied concerning information crucial for counteracting the pandemic. It adds to the discussion about disinformation and the issue of the individual responsibility of the users for spreading it. This chapter suggests the time of a pandemic could be a circumstance that could justify introducing criminal law protection of information concerning vaccines that should be applied only during the course of a pandemic, for the most harmful ways of violating “informational quarantine.”