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A few days after the Tedros press conference, in response to international pressure, the Biden government pledged 20 million doses of vaccine to COVAX from its Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccine storage. This represents a major change in policy: this is the first time the United States has donated a dose that could have been used domestically. (The government also promised to donate 60 million doses of AstraZeneca to COVAX, but it has not yet done so.)
Glenn Cohen, a law professor who directs the Petrie-Fromm Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology and Bioethics at Harvard Law School, said that for a country that cannot be self-sufficient, a commitment to provide 20 million doses is “A good first step” people exhaust their vaccine supply quickly enough.
However, he added that this does not negate the moral fallacy. It is an official policy to allow U.S. cities and states to provide or consider providing vaccines to tourists. Cohen, who has written a book on medical tourism, said that vaccines should have been targeted at the “people who need it most” rather than “people who can travel, have visas, and are in good health.”
In other words, he said: “Someone lent you their car, took your mother to the hospital, and then you decide to take that car instead of returning it to that person or taking other people back to the hospital. Hospital-you can run it like Uber.”
Outsourcing ethics conundrum
Robert Amler, dean of the School of Health Sciences and Practice of the New York Medical School, said encouraging travelers to fly to the United States from places with low vaccination rates and potentially higher infection levels, which itself may be detrimental to public health.
Amler, the former chief medical officer of the CDC, said: “The risk of any’symbiotic’ symbiotic infection will depend on the number of visitors to Hong Kong and the percentage of passengers who have been infected with the symbiotic infection. “If there are too many, we It is also impossible to determine the city’s management capabilities. “
In response to this danger, some people who are traveling to receive vaccination are taking their own preventive measures to avoid becoming unknowing virus carriers or causing other forms of harm.
“Michael” (also a pseudonym) and his wife flew from Quito, Ecuador to New Orleans in mid-May for a five-day trip during which he received the Johnson & Johnson vaccination and gave her the first dose of Pfizer vaccine .
Michael’s family in Canada has not yet seen the couple’s twin boys, who were born in January 2020. He went to Louisiana to take pictures and estimated that they had accelerated the vaccination rate, so their family reunion speed increased six to nine times. Months.
Nevertheless, the couple wanted to make sure that they did not take a vaccine that could have been given to others. He explained: “Our initial idea was to enter the red state, because we know that supply exceeds demand.”
They also took extra precautions before and during the trip. They were infected with COVID-19 earlier in the pandemic, so they tested for antibodies before flying. Then they persisted in order to limit their contact.
“The question is actually about which states are using their resources and which countries are continuing to use them [vaccines] For their own benefit. On a global scale, this is indeed wrong. “
Nicole Hassoun, Binghamton University
By taking the initiative, they may mitigate the potential negative effects of travel, but this highlights the issue of vaccine tourism as a policy and another issue in most covid-19 responses in the world. Difficult moral decisions that might have been (or some people think should be done) on policy issues are pushed onto the individual.
Pamela Hieronymi, a philosopher at the University of California, Los Angeles, said: “There is a long line in this city.” So if you have questions about vaccine tourists in New York, “it seems you should ask The city complains instead of complaining to the people who use the phone provided to them.”
Nicole Hassoun, professor of philosophy at Binghamton University and head of the Global Health Impact Project, also believes that although vaccine tourists may fight for their own choices, the real moral issue is not at the personal level. “I think the problem is really that the states are using their resources, which countries are continuing to use them? [vaccines] For my own benefit,” she said. “On a global scale, this is indeed wrong. “
Yadurshini Raveendran, a graduate of Duke University’s Institute of Global Health, said there may also be a second impact, such as exacerbating local inequality. He pointed out that the wealthier people in low-income countries (who travel abroad and are therefore more likely to take advantage of these advantages) vaccine tourism development-they have access to better medical services than the poor in these countries. Israel’s vaccination rate is the highest in the worldShe pointed out that Palestine had only administered one dose to 5% of the population.
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