Vaccine Mandates and Passports: Are They Legal and Ethical?
Next in the Hastings Conversations Event Series
Although roughly 60% of adults in the United States have had at least one shot, many Americans remain reluctant, or outright opposed, to getting vaccinated. This hesitancy poses a major hurdle to achieving herd immunity. Therefore, some experts recommend vaccine mandates, yet many states have passed legislation outlawing mandates or vaccine certification, so-called vaccine passports. Should we support mandates, and for whom? If so, who should require them – your employer, schools, state governments? Can vaccine certification be designed to be fair and privacy-protecting? Will state prohibitions against them hold up legally? Hastings Center President Mildred Solomon will discuss these issues with four experts on ethics and law from across the political spectrum. This virtual event will take place on Monday, June 7, 1 – 2:15 PM Eastern Time. Learn more and register.
Covid Crisis as a Syndemic
More than a pandemic, the Covid-19 crisis is a syndemic: a convergence of biosocial forces that interact to produce widespread disease, explains a new article in the Hastings Center Report. It calls for justice viewed through a wide-angle lens—for bioethics that cares about more than health systems. One such approach can be developed out of the concept of solidarity, which, fittingly, can be developed from the important African concept of ubuntu. The article lays out a solidarity-based approach to Covid vaccine distribution, giving priority to low- and middle-income countries and to people at high risk of infection, severe disease, and death. The authors are Nancy Jecker, a professor at the University of Washington School of Medicine, and Caesar Atuire, a senior lecturer in the Department of Philosophy and Classics at the University of Ghana. Read the article.
Sadler Fund to Support Globally Just Health Policy
Blair L. Sadler, JD, President Emeritus of Rady Children’s Hospital, and Georgia Robins Sadler, MBA, PhD, FAACE, a cancer researcher, have made a major gift for work on socially just health policy at The Hastings Center, the pioneering bioethics research institute. The Sadlers’ commitment to justice and compassion in health care has been central to who they are and the work they have been doing over their lifetimes,” said Hastings Center President Mildred Solomon. “Their gift will enable The Hastings Center to expand its research, enhance its impact, and cultivate a more diverse set of scholars committed to creating a more equitable world. We are truly excited and deeply honored.” The Sadler Fund for Socially Just Health Policy will support research, development, and dissemination of publicly accessible information to advance the promotion of socially just health policies worldwide. Read more.
Upcoming Events
"Building Effective Stakeholder and Public Engagement Strategies for Vector Control Projects." Hastings Center research scholar Carolyn Neuhaus will speak at the ANTI-Vec Webinar Series. June 3, 8:30 am EST.
"Vaccine Mandates and Passports: Are They Legal and Ethical?" Hastings Center President Mildred Solomon will discuss these issues with four experts on ethics and law from across the political spectrum. June 7, 1 pm EST.
"At the Crossroads of Ethics, Law, Medicine, and Anthropology" Hastings Center research scholar Nancy Berlinger will moderate a Massachusetts General Hospital ethics forum that explores our obligations to non-citizens at the southwest U.S. border through ethical, legal, medical, and anthropological lenses. June 23, 6 pm EST.
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