Desobediência civil e a objeção da consciência na vacinação contra o Covid-19

Diego Guimaraes Ribeiro; Cassius Guimarães Chai

doi:10.5020/2317-2150.2025.15308

Authors

Diego Guimaraes Ribeiro Faculdade de Direito de Vitória, Vitória, Espírito Santo, Brasil https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7923-9772
Cassius Guimarães Chai Universidade Federal do Maranhão, São Luís, Maranhão, Brasil https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5893-3901

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5020/2317-2150.2025.15308

Keywords:

Civil disobedience, Vaccination, COVID-19, Pandemic, Conscientious objection

Abstract

Civil disobedience and conscientious objection are distinct yet interrelated social practices that demonstrate individuals' opposition to specific laws, policies, directives, or schemes. In this context, the present study aims to analyze civil disobedience in the context of COVID-19 vaccination. To this end, a bibliographic review was conducted using the SciELO and Google Scholar databases to collect data on the proposed topic. After analyzing the data, it was found that, in general, civil disobedience is more openly communicative and political than conscientious objection. Civil disobedience is, almost by definition, a violation of the law, in which individuals engage with the purpose of forcing changes in governmental or non-governmental practices. Both civil disobedience and conscientious objection can be observed in the attitudes of those who refuse to take the COVID-19 vaccine, generating urgent normative and political challenges related to the nature of the rule of law, respect for the rule of law, conditions for deliberative democracy, equality before the law, policing, judgment, and punishment. It is concluded that it is crucial to achieve a balance between individual autonomy and collective responsibility in the promotion of public health.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Diego Guimaraes Ribeiro, Faculdade de Direito de Vitória, Vitória, Espírito Santo, Brasil

Graduado em Direito pela Universidade Vila Velha (2004) e em Psicologia pela Faculdade Brasileira UNIVIX (2024), Graduando em Filosofia pela Uninter (2019), Doutorado em andamento em Direitos e Garantias Fundamentais pela FDV, Brasil (2021), Mestrado em Segurança Pública pela UVV, Brasil (2019), especialização em Direito Público, Direito Tributário, Direito Empresarial, Direito Penal e Processual Penal e Psicologia Jurídica. Advogado inscrito na Ordem dos Advogados do Brasil - Seccional do Espírito Santo. Atualmente é Controlador-Geral da Câmara Municipal de Vila Velha/ES.

Cassius Guimarães Chai, Universidade Federal do Maranhão, São Luís, Maranhão, Brasil

Permanent Professor of the Graduate Program in Law (PPGD) at Faculdade de Direito de Vitória (FDV). Associate Professor at the Federal University of Maranhão (PPGDIR and PPGAERO). Graduated from the Superior School of War: Advanced Defense Course and Policy and Strategy Course, 2019. Graduated in Law from the Federal University of Maranhão (1994), with a specialization in Law and Society from the Federal University of Santa Catarina (1999), a Master's in Constitutional Law from the Federal University of Minas Gerais (2001), and a Ph.D. in Law from the Federal University of Minas Gerais and the Cardozo School of Law - Yeshiva University (2006). Visiting Law Professor at the Normal University of Political Science and Law in Beijing and Shanghai; Visiting Researcher and Lecturer at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences - International Institute of Law. Visiting Research Scholar at Cardozo School of Law, 2003. Doctoral and Post-Doctoral Studies in Administrative Law of the Knowledge Society - University of Salamanca, 2007 to 2010; Post-Doctoral Studies and Visiting Professor, guest of the Legal Department of Central European University - Hungary, 2007; Extraordinary Studies at the European University Institute - Italy, 2010; Studies at The Hague Academy of International Law - The Hague, 2011. Full Professor at the Superior School of the Public Ministry of Maranhão (ESMPMA). Post-Doctorate in Rights and Fundamental Guarantees from the Law School of Vitória (FDV). Associate Professor at the Federal University of Maranhão, Undergraduate Law Program, Public Law area, and professor of the Graduate Program in Law and Institutions of the Justice System and the Aerospace Engineering Program (Geopolitics). Permanent Professor of the Graduate Program at the Law School of Vitória in Rights and Fundamental Guarantees, tutor of the discipline Geopolitics, Criminology, and Development. Member-professor of the International Association of Constitutional Law; Member of ESIL - European Society of International Law; Member of the International Association of Political Science, American Political Science Association, and the Association Française de Science Politique; International Association of Penal Law; Law and Society Association; Member of the International Association of Prosecutors, 2003. Member of the International Criminology Society. Member of the International Law Association. Public Prosecutor of the Public Ministry of Maranhão - examination in 1995. He has experience in the field of Law and Political Sciences, with an emphasis on Public Law: Constitutional Law, International Law, Administrative Law, Family Law, and Theory of Law and Constitution, working mainly on the following topics: public administration control, socio-institutional role of the Public Ministry and public policies; constitutionality control and constitutional process; Public Health and Human Rights; International Human Rights Protection Systems, Combat against slave labor and human trafficking; Global Justice and Crime Prevention: Counter-terrorism; Organized Crime and Corruption; Geopolitics, Criminology, and Development. (Information provided by the author)

References

ALAMY, N. C. G. da C. A compulsoriedade da vacinação contra COVID-19 e a objeção de consciência e desobediência civil de John Rawls. Revista de Direito da Universidade Federal de Lavras, Lavras, v. 9, n. 2, p. 1291-1318, 2023. Disponível em: https://www.cidp.pt/publication/revista-juridica-lusobrasileira-ano-9-2023-n-2/289. Acesso em: 23 maio 2025.

ALVES, S. Levando a desobediência a sério. Caderno de Relações Internacionais, [s. l.], v. 6, n. 10, p. 5-31, jan./jun. 2015. Disponível em: https://revistas.faculdadedamas.edu.br/index.php/relacoesinternacionais/article/view/183. Acesso em: 23 maio 2025.

ARENDT, H. Crises da república. 2. ed. São Paulo: Perspectiva, 2004.

BADIOU, A. Sobre a situação epidêmica. In: DAVIS, M.; HARVEY, D.; BIHR, A.; ZIBECHI, R.; BADIOU, A.; ŽIŽEK, S. (org.). Coronavírus e a luta de classes. Brasília, DF: Terra Sem Amos, 2020. p. 35-42.

BRASIL. [Constituição (1998)]. Constituição da República Federativa do Brasil de 1988. Brasília, DF: Presidência da República, [2023]. Disponível em: http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/constituicao/constituicao.htm. Acesso em: 23 maio 2025.

BICKEL, A. M. The morality of consent. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1975.

BEDAU, H. A. Civil disobedience and personal responsibility for injustice. In: BEDAU, H. A. (org.). Civil disobedience in focus. London: Routledge, 1991. p. 49–67.

BORN, R. C. Objeção de consciência: restrições aos direitos políticos e fundamentais. Curitiba: Juruá, 2014.

DELMAS, C.; BROWNLEE, K. Civil disobedience. In: ZALTA, E. N.; NODELMAN, U. (org.). The Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. Stanford: Spring, 2024. p. 1-15. Disponível em: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/civil-disobedience/. Acesso em: 23 maio 2025.

CELIKATES, R. Rethinking civil disobedience as a practice of contestation: beyond the liberal paradigm. Constellations, [s. l.], v. 23, n. 1, p. 37-45, 2016. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8675.12216

CROCE, Y. D.; NICOLE-BERVA, O. Civil disobedience in times of pandemic: clarifying rights and duties. Criminal Law and Philosophy, [s. l.], v. 17, p. 155–174, 2023. Disponível em: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11572-021-09592-7. Acesso em: 23 maio 2025.

CRODA, J. H. R.; GARCIA, L. P. Resposta imediata da Vigilância em Saúde à epidemia da COVID-19. Epidemiologia e serviços de saúde, [s. l.], v. 29, n. 1, p. 1-3, 2020. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5123/S1679-49742020000100021

DAVIS, S. Lefkowitz, disobedience and political authority: North Carolina’s moral mondays as a paradigmatic case of civil disobedience. Politikon – the IAPSS Journal of Political Science, [s. l.], v. 26, p. 48-65, mar. 2015. DOI: https://doi.org/10.22151/politikon.26.4

DE CICCO, M. C. O dano social como nova tipologia de dano indenizável. Pensar - Revista de Ciências Jurídicas, Fortaleza, v. 29, n. 3, p. 1-14, jul./set. 2024. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5020/2317-2150.2024.15470

DINIZ, M. H. O estado atual do biodireito. 9. ed. São Paulo: Saraiva, 2014.

GUIMARÃES, C. Ser contra a vacinação é ser contra a vida. Escola Politécnica de Saúde Joaquim Venâncio, Rio de Janeiro, 13 maio 2022. Disponível em: https://www.epsjv.fiocruz.br/noticias/entrevista/ser-contra-a-vacinacao-e-ser-contra-a-vida. Acesso em: 24 maio 2025.

HABERMAS, J. Civil disobedience: litmus test for the democratic constitutional state. Berkeley Journal of Sociology, [s. l.], v. 30, n. 2, p. 95–116, 1985. Disponível em: https://www.jstor.org/stable/41035345. Acesso em: 24 maio 2025.

KING, M. L. Letter from Birmingham city jail. In: BEDAU, H. A. (ed.). Civil disobedience in focus. London: Routledge, 1991. p. 68–84.

LEIGH, I. Vaccination, conscientious objection and human rights. Legal Studies, Cambridge, v. 43, n. 2, p. 201–220, 2023. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/lst.2022.27

LUCAS, D. C. A desobediência civil na teoria jurídica de Ronald Dworkin. Revista de Direitos Fundamentais e Democracia, Curitiba, v. 16, n. 16, p. 116-129, jul./dez. 2014.

Disponível em: https://revistaeletronicardfd.unibrasil.com.br/index.php/rdfd/article/view/591. Acesso em: 24 maio 2025.

MEDEIROS, M, X. L. de; FEITOSA, M. L. P. de A. M. Desafios do estado democrático de direito no Brasil: entre crises institucionais e a pandemia de COVID-19. Pensar - Revista de Ciências Jurídicas, Fortaleza, v. 28, n. 3, p. 1-13, jul./set. 2023. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5020/2317-2150.2023.12530

MILLIGAN, T. Civil disobedience: protest, justification, and the law. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2013.

MONTEIRO FILHO, C. E. do R.; ROSENVALD, N.; DENSA, R. (coord.). Coronavírus e responsabilidade civil: impactos contratuais e extracontratuais. Indaiatuba: Editora Foco, 2020.

MORARO, P. Respecting autonomy through the use of force: the case of civil disobedience. Journal of Applied Philosophy, [s. l.], v. 31, n. 1, p. 63–76, 2014. Disponível em: https://www.jstor.org/stable/24356078. Acesso em: 24 maio 2025.

PIEROTH, B.; SCHLINK, B. Direitos fundamentais. 2. ed. São Paulo: Saraiva Educação, 2018. (Série IDP).

RAZ, J. The authority of law: essays on law and morality. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1979.

RAWLS, J. A theory of justice. New Haven: Harvard University Press, 1999.

REPOLÊS, M. F. S. Habermas e a desobediência civil. Belo Horizonte: Mandamentos, 2003.

SEVCENKO, N. A Revolta da vacina: mentes insanas em corpos rebeldes. Rio de Janeiro: Cosac Naify, 2010.

SINGER, P. Democracy and disobedience. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1973.

STRECK, L. L.; MORBACH, G. (Autonomia do) Direito e desacordos morais. Revista Brasileira de Estudos Políticos, [s. l.], v. 253, n. 119, p. 253–289, 2019. Disponível em: https://pos.direito.ufmg.br/rbep/index.php/rbep/article/view/739. Acesso em: 24 maio 2025.

WELCHMAN, J. Is ecosabotage civil disobedience? Philosophy and Geography, [s. l.], v. 4, n. 1, p. 97–107, 2001. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10903770124815

WEINSTOCK, D. How democratic is civil disobedience? Criminal Law and Philosophy, [s. l.], v. 10, p. 707-720, 2016. DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s11572-015-9367-0

WILSON, K.; RUDGE, C. COVID-19 vaccine mandates: a coercive but justified public health necessity. UNSW Law Journal, [s. l.], v. 46, n. 2, p. 381–414, 2023. DOI : https://doi.org/10.53637/KXUL1406