By Guy Aitchison and Ryan Essex. In April 2016, the Iranian refugee, Omid Masoumali, set himself on fire in front of UN inspectors at the Nauru island detention centre run by Australia. He later died of his injuries after delays in his treatment. Before carrying out his act, he shouted “This is how tired we […]
Category: Politics
Collateral damage of the Queen’s funeral: The unethical effects of a snap bank holiday
By David Shaw. The Queen’s funeral took place on 19th September 2022, which was declared a bank holiday. As a result, many NHS services were scaled back: hospital appointments were cancelled, operations were delayed, and GP surgeries closed, with several serious effects on patient care. Many NHS trusts cancelled non-emergency operations on the day of […]
Why hospitals should not ban visitors
By Emily McTernan Under Covid-era restrictions in hospitals, some died unable to see loved ones a last time, and some were unable to say goodbye to those they loved. Some women gave birth, some having stillbirths, without any companion present. Many women had to care for their babies shortly after birth on the post-natal ward, […]
Securing a future without COVID-19: The need to prioritise concerted global action on global access to vaccines
By Dr Aisling McMahon & Prof Susi Geiger In the last number of weeks, many emergency pandemic related health measures were removed in Ireland and the UK, and there is an expectation in many other high-income countries that remaining measures will end in the very near future. This news has been greeted with understandable relief […]
Wealthier nations should stump up for COVID-19 jab tax to drive vaccine equity
Fairer than donation model as it better reflects ability to pay, argues political scientist Wealthier nations should pay a COVID-19 vaccine tax as part of the price they pay to manufacturers, to ensure a fairer distribution of the jab to poorer nations, argues a political scientist in the Journal of Medical Ethics. Taxation is fairer […]
Persuading anti-vaxxers: Stop talking about facts
By Michelle Bach. Even before the coronavirus pandemic, the WHO named vaccine hesitancy as one of the top ten threats to global health. The WHO attributes vaccine hesitancy to factors such as a lack of confidence, complacency, and convenience. In the UK, hesitancy has been associated with certain demographic factors such as race, age, and […]
Is vaccine nationalism an obstacle or an obligation?
By Kyle Ferguson and Arthur Caplan. The pandemic has given us a new addition to our vocabulary: the phrase “vaccine nationalism.” It is rhetorically powerful. Political figures, journalists, and scholars have rapidly taken up and used the phrase. And even though it is vague enough to allow users to project different meanings upon it, “vaccine […]
Immunity passports, fundamental rights and public health hazards: A reply to Brown et al.
By Iñigo de Miguel Beriain and Jon Rueda Etxebarria In a recent article published by the Journal of Medical Ethics, Brown et al. analysed several ethical aspects around immunity passports and put forward some recommendations for implementing them. When we first read this paper, we considered that it was an excellent piece of analysis, but […]
The UK government is encouraging people outside England to break lockdown rules
By David Shaw On Wednesday the 13th of May coronavirus lockdown restrictions were slightly eased in England. People living there can now drive anywhere in that country to get to a chosen place of exercise, can meet people from outside their households in parks, and can start playing tennis and golf again. They are also […]
Laissez COVID19 faire, laissez COVID19 passer?
By Gabriela Arguedas Ramírez Pandemics are threshold situations that put our individual and collective convictions, priorities and capacities to the test. They test state institutions, the ethical principles that have guided the formation of public policy and the strengths and weaknesses of our social fabric. Pandemics are ethical-political issues and not simply medical or biological […]