The road from evidence to policies and the erosion of the standards of democratic scrutiny in the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hist Philos Life Sci
; 43(2): 66, 2021 Apr 30.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1210756
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic poses extraordinary public health challenges. In order to respond to such challenges, most democracies have relied on so-called 'evidence-based' policies, which supposedly devolve to science the burden of their justification. However, the biomedical sciences can only provide a theory-laden evidential basis, while reliable statistical data for policy support is often scarce. Therefore, scientific evidence alone cannot legitimise COVID-19 public health policies, which are ultimately based on political decisions. Given this inevitable input on policy-making, the risk of arbitrariness is ubiquitous and democratic scrutiny becomes essential to counter it. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the standards of scientific and democratic scrutiny have been, as a matter of fact, substantially lowered. This erosion potentially damages democracy.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Policy Making
/
Evidence-Based Practice
/
COVID-19
/
Health Policy
Type of study:
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Limits:
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
Hist Philos Life Sci
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
S40656-021-00419-1
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