{"id":4057,"date":"2020-12-12T14:12:17","date_gmt":"2020-12-12T13:12:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-ethics\/?p=4057"},"modified":"2020-12-12T14:12:17","modified_gmt":"2020-12-12T13:12:17","slug":"is-vaccine-nationalism-an-obstacle-or-an-obligation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-ethics\/2020\/12\/12\/is-vaccine-nationalism-an-obstacle-or-an-obligation\/","title":{"rendered":"Is vaccine nationalism an obstacle or an obligation?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Kyle Ferguson and Arthur Caplan.<\/p>\n

The pandemic has given us a new addition to our vocabulary: the phrase \u201cvaccine nationalism.\u201d It is rhetorically powerful.\u00a0 Political figures, journalists, and scholars have rapidly taken up and used the phrase.\u00a0 And even though it is vague enough to allow users to project different meanings upon it, \u201cvaccine nationalism\u201d is typically used in a pejorative or accusatory sense.\u00a0 It is used to name a tragic obstacle to justice in the global distribution of coronavirus vaccines.\u00a0 In this way, the issue of coronavirus-vaccine justice is currently often framed as a conflict between the obligations of justice and the obstacle of vaccine nationalism.<\/p>\n

We think this is the wrong way to frame the issue.\u00a0 In our article, \u201cLove thy neighbour? Allocating vaccines in a world of competing obligations<\/a>,\u201d we argue that, rather than a conflict between obligations and obstacles, the issue involves conflicts of duty.\u00a0 That is to say, we think that some degree of vaccine nationalism is a matter of moral responsibility.\u00a0 In our view, some form of vaccine nationalism will be a component of, not an obstacle to, justice.<\/p>\n

To reframe the issue, we make three moves:<\/p>\n

First, we argue that vaccine nationalism can spring from moral obligations<\/em>, that there are genuine moral reasons<\/em> for leaders or nation-states to prioritize and take care of their own.\u00a0 Here, we suggest that to belong to a nation is to belong to a community.\u00a0 Members of nations are bound together by associative ties and stand in morally meaningful relations to one another.\u00a0 Within those webs of relations, people occupy certain roles that bring special obligations, including the duty to take care of one\u2019s own.\u00a0 So, there are moral reasons to allocate vaccines in nationally self-interested way, reasons that too often are dismissed out of hand.\u00a0 Too often, the special obligations of community membership are denied the status of moral reasons.\u00a0 Instead, they get demoted, often without argument, to the level of brute facts, or worse, brutish biases.<\/p>\n

Second, since the issue is usually framed as \u201cjustice\u201d versus \u201cvaccine nationalism,\u201d and since we think vaccine nationalism can be a component of just global distribution, we give a name for the alternative position.\u00a0 So, we introduce the phrase \u201cvaccine cosmopolitanism.\u201d\u00a0 Vaccine cosmopolitanism treats sub-global community membership as morally irrelevant.\u00a0 On this view, the only relevant citizenship is one\u2019s being a citizen of the world.\u00a0 Because other community memberships are irrelevant, it is unjust for nation-states to prioritize their own.\u00a0 Allocation schemes ought to disregard potential recipients\u2019 national identities, and instead focus on traits like healthcare-worker status, age, or comorbidities.<\/p>\n

Third, we identify points of conflict between cosmopolitan and communitarian commitments, which means distinguishing between the kind of vaccine nationalism we find acceptable and the kinds we find abhorrent.\u00a0 To do so, we borrow from the Oxford philosopher W. D. Ross (1877\u20131971).\u00a0 Ross distinguishes between general obligations of benevolence, which we owe to anyone, and the special obligations we have to certain someones (e.g., co-members of our communities), which we owe because of our relations, roles, or particular commitments.\u00a0 We suggest that a defensible form of vaccine nationalism recognizes cosmopolitan duties of benevolence and the equal worth of persons across the globe.\u00a0 But it also recognizes the weight of the special obligations of community.\u00a0 The challenge of justly allocating coronavirus vaccines is the challenge of duly considering, appreciating, and fulfilling both types of obligation.<\/p>\n

Rather than obligations versus obstacles, the real conflict is between two sorts of obligation: cosmopolitan obligations, on the one hand, and special obligations, on the other.\u00a0 In the end, we don\u2019t say how to balance these competing obligations.\u00a0 Instead, we stress that there is a balancing act to perform.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Paper title: Love thy neighbour? Allocating vaccines in a world of competing obligations<\/a><\/p>\n

Authors: Kyle Ferguson, Arthur Caplan<\/p>\n

Affiliations: Division of Medical Ethics, NYU Grossman School of Medicine<\/p>\n

Competing interests: None declared.<\/p>\n

Social media accounts of post authors: @TheKyleFerguson<\/a> @ArthurCaplan<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Kyle Ferguson and Arthur Caplan. The pandemic has given us a new addition to our vocabulary: the phrase \u201cvaccine nationalism.\u201d It is rhetorically powerful.\u00a0 Political figures, journalists, and scholars have rapidly taken up and used the phrase.\u00a0 And even though it is vague enough to allow users to project different meanings upon it, \u201cvaccine […]<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":353,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8070,475],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pandemic","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nIs vaccine nationalism an obstacle or an obligation? - Journal of Medical Ethics blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-ethics\/2020\/12\/12\/is-vaccine-nationalism-an-obstacle-or-an-obligation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is vaccine nationalism an obstacle or an obligation? - Journal of Medical Ethics blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Kyle Ferguson and Arthur Caplan. The pandemic has given us a new addition to our vocabulary: the phrase \u201cvaccine nationalism.\u201d It is rhetorically powerful.\u00a0 Political figures, journalists, and scholars have rapidly taken up and used the phrase.\u00a0 And even though it is vague enough to allow users to project different meanings upon it, \u201cvaccine [...]Read More...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-ethics\/2020\/12\/12\/is-vaccine-nationalism-an-obstacle-or-an-obligation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Journal of Medical Ethics blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-12-12T13:12:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mike King\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mike King\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-ethics\\\/2020\\\/12\\\/12\\\/is-vaccine-nationalism-an-obstacle-or-an-obligation\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-ethics\\\/2020\\\/12\\\/12\\\/is-vaccine-nationalism-an-obstacle-or-an-obligation\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Mike King\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-ethics\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b107957622bc42b2097d15e5e02a112c\"},\"headline\":\"Is vaccine nationalism an obstacle or an obligation?\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-12-12T13:12:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-ethics\\\/2020\\\/12\\\/12\\\/is-vaccine-nationalism-an-obstacle-or-an-obligation\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":666,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-ethics\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Pandemic\",\"Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-ethics\\\/2020\\\/12\\\/12\\\/is-vaccine-nationalism-an-obstacle-or-an-obligation\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-ethics\\\/2020\\\/12\\\/12\\\/is-vaccine-nationalism-an-obstacle-or-an-obligation\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-ethics\\\/2020\\\/12\\\/12\\\/is-vaccine-nationalism-an-obstacle-or-an-obligation\\\/\",\"name\":\"Is vaccine nationalism an obstacle or an obligation? 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