By Bridget Williams, James Cameron, James Trauer, Ben Marais, Romain Ragonnet and Julian Savulescu. One of the major controversies of the COVID-19 pandemic has been disagreement about whether age-selective measures should be introduced, with greater focus on preventing infection in older people but tolerance of some transmission amongst younger people. Some have advocated a path […]
Latest articles
Altered vaccination schedules and informed consent
By Jennifer O’Neill. According to the General Medical Council (GMC) publication Good Medical Practice, medical treatments should be provided “…based on the best available evidence” with a favourable balance between benefit and risk. Legal principles of informed consent and shared decision-making recognise the patient’s right to be informed of the risk-benefit profile of a treatment […]
Research on COVID-19’s long term effects: Ensuring Black, Indigenous and Latinx communities are not left behind
By Michelle Medeiros, Hillary Edwards and Claudia Baquet. Possible long-term effects of COVID-19: As we continue to learn more about SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19), there is emerging evidence on long-term impacts. Recent publications identified long-term effects including, but not limited to, fatigue, shortness of breath, cough, headache, chest, muscle and joint pain, fast or pounding heartbeat, loss […]
Are immunity passports a human rights Issue?
By Julian Savulescu. Imagine you are about to board a plane. Authorities have reason to believe you are carrying a loaded gun. They are entitled to detain you. But they are obliged to investigate whether you have a gun. And if you are not carrying a gun, they are obliged to free you and allow […]
Pandemic prioritarianism: what can we learn from Covid-19?
By Lasse Nielsen. Medical ethics have to learn from actual ethical experiences from the medical practice. The relevant interpretation and application of ethical theories must adhere to issues and questions that arise in clinical practice, and oftentimes we find that our intuitions about practical matters do not fit our theories and principles. In these cases, […]
Apology, exposing the past key to black Americans embracing COVID-19 vaccines, American medicine?
By Doug Wojcieszak. Recent racial unrest has made many Americans — including the medical community — reflect on our nation’s racial history. The pandemic and our hopes for the COVID-19 vaccines, however, should make the medical community reflect deeper on the history of Black Americans and American medicine and how the future can be different. […]
Can Malaysian Private Healthcare Providers Refuse to Treat Patients with COVID-19?
By Hui-Siu Tan Malaysia is going through the emergency phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. The marked surge of cases and deaths sees recent drastic measures from the government with the nationwide movement control order and a declaration of a national emergency the king this week. The democratic implications of an EO are worrying to […]
Is a Minor’s Decision to Take Puberty-Blockers Exceptional?
By Shannon Fyfe and Elizabeth Lanphier In a recent decision from the High Court of Justice of England and Wales, three judges ruled that young people under the age of 16 may only consent to the use of medication intended to suppress puberty (PBTs) if they are competent to understand the nature of the […]
Response to Nix and Weijer: Close Eneph? SARS-CoV-2 challenge studies and altruistic kidney donation
By Abie Rohrig and David Manheim In a recent blog post, Nix and Weijer argue that living kidney donation and volunteering for a COVID-19 challenge trial are disanalogous, and that “advocates of SARS-CoV-2 challenge studies must look elsewhere to justify the level of risk in these studies.” They offer three arguments to support this view: […]
Vaccines and ventilators: need, outcome, or a right to a fair go?
By Julian Savulescu and Jonathan Pugh. The current UK approach to allocating limited life-saving resources is on the basis of need. Guidance issued by The General Medical Council states that all doctors must “Make sure that decisions about setting priorities that affect patients are fair and based on clinical need and the likely effectiveness of […]