On Pandemics, Vaccines, Age, and Global Justice

Abstract

The Kennedy Institute of Ethics (KIE) hosted a virtual conversation about COVID-19 vaccine distribution priorities on Friday, October 9th, 2020 12-1:30pm EST.

Georgetown University KIE Senior Research Scholar and Professor of Philosophy Henry S. Richardson, and Nancy S. Jecker, Professor of Bioethics & Humanities at the University of Washington School of Medicine, presented different approaches to the just distribution of scarce resources such as allocating vaccines across countries in a global health emergency. KIE Acting Director Dr. Daniel P. Sulmasy moderated the conversation.

Henry Richardson, Ezekiel Emanuel and other colleagues recently proposed a “Fair Priority Model” that offers an ethical framework to guide and undergird the work, especially during the initial period when vaccines are in limited supply. Jecker and Richardson will share comparative perspectives on how an ethical framework informs global vaccine allocation, attending especially to the role that age and “life-years” should play in thinking about global justice.