海角论坛

The (KIE) senior research scholar Henry S. Richardson recently partnered with  in co-authoring a new paper in Science entitled 鈥�.”

The project, led and organized by, advances an ethical framework for the global allocation of COVID-19 vaccines.

鈥淓ven once there is a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine, it will take years to produce enough vaccine to immunize enough people to produce herd immunity everywhere.  Yet any delay in receiving a vaccine will make a life or death difference to many,鈥� Richardson said. 

While the ethics of within-country distribution of vaccines and other life-saving interventions has been much discussed, the paper examines the relatively unaddressed issue of the fair distribution of vaccines across nations.

鈥淶eke Emanuel, who saw the need for a paper on the ethics of the international allocation of scarce COVID-19 vaccine, had assembled our group of almost twenty authors before the end of April,鈥� Richardson said. 

鈥淲e hail from ten different countries, sprinkled across the six populated continents,” he continues. “The group includes philosophers with well-known views on international justice, leading bioethicists, and present and former top officials in the health ministries of their countries. Everyone鈥檚 open-mindedness and willingness to be persuaded was extraordinary. The urgency of the problem kept us focused, holding our egos at bay.鈥�

There are widespread calls, including from the WHO and GAVI, for 鈥渇air and equitable鈥� international distribution of any eventual COVID-19 vaccine, but there is little clarity about what this should mean in practice.

The paper鈥檚 Fair Priority Model steers vaccine to countries based on the amount of good each dose will do, correcting for each country鈥檚 undeserved disadvantages. Richardson was part of the core drafting team (with Emanuel, Persad, and Kern) and played a leading role in devising the Fair Priority Model鈥檚 3-phase structure.

Read the entire open access paper .