Ethical conditions for accelerating COVID-19 vaccine research

There is a dire need to produce a safe and effective coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine as quickly as possible to avert an enormous burden of morbidity and mortality. This need for speed has thus far resulted in significant deviations from standard approaches to vaccine research and regulatory approval. Yet, pandemics do not obviate the need for rigorous scientific evaluation of potential interventions and adherence to universal ethical standards. Consequently, steps taken to accelerate clinical research in the context of the current pandemic require an explicit ethical justification, particularly if we expect public trust in the vaccine. We argue that accelerating COVID-19 vaccine research can be ethically justified, but only if social value, scientific validity, and a favourable risk-benefit ratio can be maintained or enhanced when doing so. © 2020. Smith MJ et al.

Key ethical concepts and their application to COVID-19 research

During the WHO-GloPID COVID-19 Global Research and Innovation Forum meeting held in Geneva on the 11th and 12th of February 2020 a number of different ethical concepts were used. This paper briefly states what a number of these concepts mean and how they might be applied to discussions about research during the COVID-19 pandemic and related outbreaks. This paper does not seek to be exhaustive and other ethical concepts are, of course, relevant and important.