ABSTRACT
The need to ensure that the health and safety policy of any country is intact needs not be overemphasized hence the necessary safety measures that must be complied with to protect citizens from preventable health hazards. Since countries began vaccine rollout against the COVID-19 virus, all hands have been on deck to vaccinate as many people as possible, in order to achieve a high vaccine uptake towards herd immunity. Though slow, Nigeria just like other countries, has been vaccinating its citizens. However, the vaccination effort, like similar programmes has continued to encounter the familiar foe of vaccine hesitancy. Where vaccine hesitancy becomes an issue, a likely response is for the government to explore the option of mandatory vaccination, either directly or indirectly, with the goal of compelling citizens to be vaccinated, or suffer some jeopardy. Such a move is bound to touch on core human rights. This research seeks to examine the compulsory covid-19 vaccination and right of citizens under the Nigerian law. The study examines the legality and human rights implications of the compulsory covid-19 vaccination in Nigeria, the international position on covid-19 vaccination and civil liberty safeguards, and provides measures to synchronize covid-19 vaccination with regards to the rights of citizens. The doctrinal approach was adopted for the research and data were sourced from primary and secondary sources. The study finds that that there is a constitutional justification for mandatory vaccination as a tool for public health protection. However, compulsory covid-19 vaccination in Nigeria, if implemented, has serious implications on human rights. Specifically, it violates the rights to personal autonomy, privacy, and liberty, and movement. It shows that there is a competing interest between the personal rights of Nigerians and the public health protection of the Nigerian community. The study reveals that in the United States and South Africa, vaccination is not compulsory. However, the situation in Ghana showed that the government enacted a law on compulsory vaccination which has been largely criticized. Thus, any law enacted to ensure compulsory vaccination impedes on the civil rights of individuals in the country. In order to balance human rights and public health safety, the study recommends that adequate public enlightenment should be engaged in, to educate, persuade and assuage the views of antivaccination individuals and/or groups who hold strong religious and cultural inclinations as their grounds for refusal of such vaccines. The government must gain the confidence of the populace through adequate reaffirmations and quality assurance that covid-19 vaccines are of quality and same effect.
