From government-enforced lockdowns to vaccine passports and diplomacy, the coronavirus pandemic has raised numerous ethical concerns. Recognizing this, the World Health Organization (WHO) held a summit on Monday focusing on Pandemic Ethics and Policy.
According to the WHO, “ethical values like equity, fairness, solidarity and trust have figured prominently in global political discussions” around COVID-19. However, there remains a gap between these values and how policy decisions are implemented.
Many countries have taken steps to protect their own national interests, such as closing borders or stockpiling vaccines. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus emphasized that ethics are “fundamental in every area of health” and called for a united and shared international response to the crisis.
Among the key speakers at the summit was Anthony Fauci, the chief medical adviser to U.S. President Joe Biden. “Virtually every decision or policy or guideline that we’ve made has ethical implications to it,” said Fauci.
“The most obvious ones are the allocation of resources, not only throughout the world, country to country, but also resources within our own country,” he continued. “For example, early on, we have 50 states in the U.S. and other territories, and when we had the lack of abundance of things like PPE, ventilators, medication, oxygen, it became an ethical dilemma from the very beginning.”
Fauci acknowledged that ethical concerns may have been overlooked in the United States’ early response but stressed the importance of addressing these issues globally. “When we got to international issues, the ethics became even more compelling, especially around vaccines and antivirals. It’s at the core of everything we’ve done and should be doing,” he said.
Reflecting on the differences between administrations, Fauci noted that the understanding of ethics was “fundamentally different in the previous administration as to here [Biden’s].” He added, “Looking at the core principles of public health, right now, it drives our discussions and considerations.”
Reference(s):
cgtn.com
