The article provides a comparative analysis of the legal regulation of vaccination in foreign countries on the example of France, Italy, Germany and the United Kingdom. Two opposite models of regulation are considered from the point of view of their constitutional and legal validity, one of which is based on the principle of individual autonomy and voluntariness, while the other establishes the obligation of vaccination, supported by measures of legal responsibility. The risks of infringement of constitutional values inherent in each of the models are analysed. To level out the identified risks and to create a legal mechanism that more effectively ensures a balance between private and public interest in vaccine prevention, the authors propose the introduction of “dormant” norms that begin to operate when certain indicators that signal the onset of an adverse epidemiological situation are reached.