{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,29]],"date-time":"2025-10-29T03:52:16Z","timestamp":1761709936265,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":55,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"12","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,11]],"date-time":"2022-06-11T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1654905600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJERPH"],"abstract":"<jats:p>In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic exhausted healthcare systems around the world, including European Union countries, with healthcare workers at the frontline. Therefore, new health laws and policies have been introduced at the national level in order to offer greater legal protection for health workers. Since the introduction of COVID-19 vaccination, it has led to the development of specific laws to define the compulsoriness for particular categories. This review aimed to evaluate the system of medical liability, focusing on the ten countries of the European Union with the highest rate of vaccination coverage against SARS-CoV-2. A country-by-country analysis was conducted on the different medical liability systems of individual professionals, in general, and with specific focus on the vaccinating doctors. Additional search was conducted to investigate which European states have introduced specific policies in this field, to identify the implementation of any new laws alongside the COVID-19 vaccination campaigns, and to assess which countries have adopted the European Digital COVID Certificate and funded specific compensation programs for COVID-19 vaccination. Our results highlight an extremely fragmented European scenario; therefore, this work could be a starting point to define a common approach for medical liability and related policies in the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph19127191","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,11]],"date-time":"2022-06-11T09:33:26Z","timestamp":1654940006000},"page":"7191","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":15,"title":["Medical Liability of the Vaccinating Doctor: Comparing Policies in European Union Countries during the COVID-19 Pandemic"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"19","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5795-6316","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Carlotta","family":"Amantea","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Section of Occupational Health, Department of Health Science and Public Health, Universit\u00e0 Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Largo Francesco Vito 1, 00168 Rome, Italy"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0901-7864","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Maria Francesca","family":"Rossi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Section of Occupational Health, Department of Health Science and Public Health, Universit\u00e0 Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Largo Francesco Vito 1, 00168 Rome, Italy"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6052-088X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Paolo Emilio","family":"Santoro","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Women, Children and Public Health Sciences, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS, Largo Francesco Vito 1, 00168 Rome, Italy"},{"name":"Section of Hygiene, Department of Health Science and Public Health, Universit\u00e0 Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Largo Francesco Vito 1, 00168 Rome, Italy"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9278-7995","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Flavia","family":"Beccia","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Section of Hygiene, Department of Health Science and Public Health, Universit\u00e0 Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Largo Francesco Vito 1, 00168 Rome, Italy"}]},{"given":"Maria Rosaria","family":"Gualano","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Public Health Sciences and Paediatrics, Universit\u00e0 di Torino, Via Giuseppe Verdi 8, 10124 Torino, Italy"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6361-8823","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ivan","family":"Borrelli","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Section of Occupational Health, Department of Health Science and Public Health, Universit\u00e0 Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Largo Francesco Vito 1, 00168 Rome, Italy"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4461-4878","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Joana Pinto","family":"da Costa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"EPI Unit, Instituto de Sa\u00fade P\u00fablica, Universidade do Porto, Rua das Taipas, n\u00b0 135, 4050-600 Porto, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0658-8154","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Alessandra","family":"Daniele","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Section of Occupational Health, Department of Health Science and Public Health, Universit\u00e0 Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Largo Francesco Vito 1, 00168 Rome, Italy"}]},{"given":"Antonio","family":"Tumminello","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Section of Occupational Health, Department of Health Science and Public Health, Universit\u00e0 Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Largo Francesco Vito 1, 00168 Rome, Italy"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1864-749X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Stefania","family":"Boccia","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Section of Hygiene, Department of Health Science and Public Health, Universit\u00e0 Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Largo Francesco Vito 1, 00168 Rome, Italy"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5655-688X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Walter","family":"Ricciardi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Section of Hygiene, Department of Health Science and Public Health, Universit\u00e0 Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Largo Francesco Vito 1, 00168 Rome, Italy"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2568-3966","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Umberto","family":"Moscato","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Section of Occupational Health, Department of Health Science and Public Health, Universit\u00e0 Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Largo Francesco Vito 1, 00168 Rome, Italy"},{"name":"Department of Women, Children and Public Health Sciences, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS, Largo Francesco Vito 1, 00168 Rome, Italy"},{"name":"Section of Hygiene, Department of Health Science and Public Health, Universit\u00e0 Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Largo Francesco Vito 1, 00168 Rome, Italy"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,11]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"(2022, April 26). 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