RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Compulsory medical intervention versus external constraint in pandemic control JF Journal of Medical Ethics JO J Med Ethics FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and Institute of Medical Ethics SP e77 OP e77 DO 10.1136/medethics-2020-106435 VO 47 IS 12 A1 Thomas Douglas A1 Lisa Forsberg A1 Jonathan Pugh YR 2021 UL http://jme.bmj.com/content/47/12/e77.abstract AB Would compulsory treatment or vaccination for COVID-19 be justified? In England, there would be significant legal barriers to it. However, we offer a conditional ethical argument in favour of allowing compulsory treatment and vaccination, drawing on an ethical comparison with external constraints—such as quarantine, isolation and ‘lockdown’—that have already been authorised to control the pandemic in this jurisdiction. We argue that, if the permissive English approach to external constraints for COVID-19 has been justified, then there is a case for a similarly permissive approach to compulsory medical interventions.There are no data in this work.