Criminal liability from the administration of the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine: exclusion of punishability if the use is in accordance with the indications of the authority 

On April 1 the Italian Government passed a Decree ( Law Decree no. 44 of 2021), that, among various measures for the containment of the COVID 19 pandemic, excludes criminal sanctions for manslaughter or culpable personal injury if the events occurred in the context of the administration of a vaccine for the prevention of SARS-CoV -2 infections carried out during the current extraordinary vaccination campaign.

The provision under comment specifies that the punishability will be excluded only when the use of the vaccine complies with the indications contained in the marketing authorization issued by the competent authorities and the circulars published on the institutional website of the Ministry of Health relating to vaccination activities. This means that, in order to exclude punishability, it will still be necessary for the person concerned to demonstrate that he/she complied with the procedures for the administration of the vaccine.

With regard to the audience of possible beneficiaries of the exclusion of liability, the latter seems to refer to all those who are somehow involved in the vaccination campaign, whose actions, if negligent, could constitute a hypothesis of manslaughter or negligent injury.

The possible liability on the civil side, however, is not excluded.