Omicron Travel Restrictions Are Not Ethically Justified
Written by: Alberto Giubilini, Julian Savulescu
*A version of this blogpost appears as an article in the Spectator*
Governments are at it again. It has become an involuntary reflex. A few days after South Africa sequenced and identified the new Omicron variant, England placed some South African countries back in the ‘red list’. Quarantine has been imposed on all incoming passengers until they show evidence of a negative test. Some European countries banned incoming flights from that region. Switzerland introduced quarantine for passengers arriving from the UK, but also banned all the unvaccinated passengers from the UK from entering the country. The domino effect we have seen so many times during this pandemic has kicked in again.
Is closing borders ethical? We don’t think so. At the beginning of the pandemic, border closures were, arguably, too little too late. Angela Merkel sealed off Germany’s borders in March 2020 less than a week after having declared that, in the name of solidarity, EU countries should not isolate themselves from one another, as the situation was out of control and extremely uncertain. The UK was also criticized for closing borders and locking down too late. In fact, countries that closed borders relatively early, such as Australia and New Zealand, fared better in terms of keeping the virus at bay.
However, we are at a very different stage of the pandemic now. The disease is endemic, vaccination has been introduced, and we have treatments available. Why do we think the same measures that might have been appropriate in March 2020 are the best response in this very different context?
Mandatory Vaccination Should Be Selective, Not General
By Alberto Giubilini and Julian Savulescu
As resurgent Covid-19 spreads rapidly across Europe, in countries such as Austria and the Netherlands the authorities are re-imposing lockdowns. And in response thousands are marching – and rioting.
People are clearly fed up with losing their liberties. Indeed, more liberties may soon be taken away from people: in Austria, the authorities say they will make Covid vaccination mandatory for almost everyone from February 1. It’s also being reported that Germany may follow suit.
Should the UK do the same?
Cross post: Why COVID passes are not discriminatory (in the way you think they are)
Alberto Giubilini
(This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article)
The double ethical mistake of vaccinating children against COVID-19
Alberto Giubilini
Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics
University of Oxford
Against the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI)’s advice that did not recommend COVID-19 vaccination for children, the four Chief Medical Officers in the UK have just recommended that all children aged 12-15 should be vaccinated with the mRNA Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.
This is a double ethical mistake, given our current state of knowledge.
Cross Post: There’s no Need to Pause Vaccine Rollouts When There’s a Safety Scare. Give the Public the Facts and Let Them Decide
Written By: Julian Savulescu, University of Oxford; Dominic Wilkinson, University of Oxford;
Jonathan Pugh, University of Oxford, and Margie Danchin, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
For instance, reports of blood clots associated with the AstraZeneca vaccine led to several European countries suspending their vaccination programs recently, only to resume them once these clots were judged to be a coincidence. However, authorities couldn’t rule out increased rates of a rare brain blood clot associated with low levels of blood platelets.
There are also problems with the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. By early February 2021, among the over 20 million people vaccinated in the United States, there have been 20 reported cases of immune thrombocytopenia, a blood disorder featuring a reduced number of platelets in the blood. Experts suspect this is probably a rare vaccine side-effect but argue vaccination should continue.
So what happens with the next safety scare, for these or other vaccines? We argue it’s best to give people the facts so they have the autonomy to make their own decisions. When governments pause vaccine rollouts while investigating apparent safety issues, this is paternalism, and can do more harm than good. Continue reading
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