By Kyungdo Lee and Nir Eyal. A dose-determining study toward the world’s first controlled human infection (abbreviated as CHI) COVID vaccine study has launched in the UK. A COVID vaccine CHI would typically enroll a few dozen young and healthy volunteers, excluding people at higher risk of severe outcomes. After admission to an isolated research […]
Category: Pandemic
Making a killing: The imperative to waive COVID-19 vaccine intellectual property rights
By Harry Hudson Recent lobbying disclosures revealed that over 100 lobbyists have been deployed to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) by the pharmaceutical industry to block generic manufacture of COVID-19 vaccines. The background here is that the richest countries have over half the purchased vaccine doses, yet only 16% of the global population. This has […]
Ethics guidance for biobanking practice in low-and middle-income-countries during COVID-19
By Shenuka Singh, Rosemary Jean Cadigan and Keymanthri Moodley Biobanking has the potential to make valuable contributions to health research through the collection, storage and sharing of human samples and data for research purposes. During the COVID-19 pandemic, storing samples for future research is a public health imperative. There are, however, several ethical concerns. These […]
Solidarity, trust and the governance of data sharing during a public health emergency
By Ciara Staunton and Deborah Mascalzoni. The timely access to and sharing of personal data during a public health emergency (PHE) is critical. It is essential for disease surveillance, to inform national and more localised responses, but it is also critical for research into new diagnostics, therapies and vaccines, as well as safety monitoring of […]
Age-selective mixing to control the COVID-19 epidemic – still relevant in 2021?
James M Trauer, Ben J Marais, Romain Ragonnet, Bridget M Williams, James Cameron, Julian Savulescu. In a previous blog and now feature article in JME we explored the ethics of selective liberty restriction of the vulnerable. In that paper, we considered whether differential liberty restriction could be ethically justified. Here we consider the complementary public […]
The health supply chain and bioethics: Notes towards a person-centred approach to the health supply chain
By Michael Saunders. In our ongoing research on the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain strategy, and health system outcomes in Canada, we have heard frequently about the incredible increase in cost of personal protective equipment (PPE) during the first wave of the pandemic. We have heard as well about the cost-saving pressures that regularly shape health […]
Challenge studies for COVID-19: Now is still not the time
By Françoise Baylis and Landon J Getz Two challenge studies for COVID-19 involving the deliberate infection of healthy volunteers aged 18-30 are underway in the UK. Both studies involve the original strain of SARS-CoV-2 from Wuhan China, and not the recent variants of concern – commonly referred to as B.1.1.7, B.1.351 and P.1. These variants […]
UK COVID-19 human challenge trials need participants. International volunteers are ready to heed the call
By Zacharia Kafuko. Last month, the UK government approved a bold innovation that will take us closer to finally ending the COVID-19 pandemic: human challenge trials, which involve deliberately exposing volunteers to the coronavirus to help researchers study the disease. The first trial began in London in early March, involving up to ninety volunteers. Another trial, which […]
The carbon emissions of prescribing practices
By Cristina Richie. Health care has a carbon footprint, which contributes to climate change and climate change health hazards, like severe weather, flooding, tornadoes, drought, and anxiety. Carbon emissions come from health care structures and health care activities. Health care structures like hospitals and clinics rely on high-carbon use building materials, heat and cooling, water […]
When the going gets tough, where do persons with disabilities stand? Covid-19 pandemic, community-centered medicine and scarce health resources allocation
By Nicola Panocchia, Viola D’Ambrosio, Serafino Corti, Eluisa Lo Presti, Marco Bertelli, Maria Luisa Scattoni, and Filippo Ghelma The COVID-19 pandemic led to a shift in the medical paradigm from person-centered medicine to community-centered medicine. This shift gives “priority to community health above that of the individual patient in allocating scarce resources”. The patient-physician relationship […]