Health Equity Summit; Covid Vaccines; Gene Editing Endangered Species
November 12, 2021
National Summit on Health Care Equity Doctors and nurses join Hastings and AAMC
The American Nurses Association and the American Medical Association join The Hastings Center and the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Center for Health Justice as sponsors of a two-day summit on health equity on January 19 – 20, 2022. The event will feature Isabel Wilkerson, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and author of the best-selling book, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents; David Williams, an internationally recognized social scientist whose TEDMED Talk, “How Racism Makes Us Sick,” has been viewed more than 1 million times; Richard Rothstein, author of The Color of Law, which chronicles the federal and state laws and policies that created residential segregation; and Daniel Dawes, a leader in the movement to advance health equity and a key figure in the Mental Health Parity Act and Affordable Care Act. Learn more and register.
Covid Vaccines: Religious Exemptions, Off-Label Use for Kids
With more than 100 million U.S. workers facing new federal government requirements to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 by January 4, some employees have raised objections, including that vaccination violates their religious beliefs. However, “most employees will have a difficult time obtaining an accommodation on religious grounds,” writes Mark A. Rothstein in a new early-view article in the Hastings Center Report. Read the article.
Another early-view article in the Hastings Center Report challenges the ethics of a blanket prohibition against off-label Covid-19 vaccination in children for whom a vaccine is not approved. The ethical problem with an apparent prohibition--in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine provider agreement--is that it limits clinicians’ ability to give care that they may determine to be appropriate, write Elizabeth Lanphier and Shannon Fyfe. “At the same time, our analysis acknowledges that Covid-19 creates population-level ethical considerations that are at times in tension with individual health interests.” Read the Hastings Center Report article. Also see their “explainer” essay on off-label Covid-19 vaccination in kids in Hastings Bioethics Forum. Read the Hastings Bioethics Forum essay.
In the Media: Genetic Engineering, Conservation, and Climate Change
Efforts are under way to use genetic engineering to fortify endangered species against climate change. Is genetic modification an ethical conservation tool? Given the dire threat of climate change, Hastings Center research scholar Gregory Kaebnick told Agence France-Presse that genetically tweaking creatures to help them survive “might be something we have to do.” Read the Agence France-Presse article.
Upcoming Events
"Facing Dementia: Choices and Ethics in Aging Societies," a presentation featuring Hastings Center research scholar Nancy Berlinger, November 15.
"The Ethics of Protection During the Pandemic," a presentation featuring Hastings Center research scholar Nancy Berlinger, November 15.
"Precision Medicine, 'All of Us', and Inclusion," discussion for journalists, November 16.
"Pandemic Ethics: Reflections on Justice and the Common Good," a presentation by Hastings Center President Mildred Solomon at the Mayo Clinic, December 2.
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