On the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines in conditions of shortage : questioning the 'older people first' principle

The first vaccines against CoVid-19 were released at the end of 2020. Unfortu-nately, at that time, the number of people willing to vaccinate significantly exceed-ed the number of available vaccine doses. Because of that, state authorities faced the challenge of how to distribute these resources in a fair manner. The political solution to this problem usually included a policy based on the ‘older people first’ principle, according to which older citizens should be granted a priority access to CoVid-19 vaccines. The principle was commonly perceived as uncontroversial, however contemporary bioethics questions its legitimacy. in the paper, the author takes a closer look at the ‘older people first’ principle, and its possible criticisms