Ethical Dilemma in Global Vaccine Cooperation and Its Countermeasures: Taking the Global Eradication of Smallpox as an Example

ABSTRACT

Vaccine cooperation is an important means to deal with global infectious diseases. However, the cooperation cannot be achieved overnight. Ethical dilemma is one of the obstacles that hinders vaccine cooperation. Reviewing the history, the most successful vaccine collaboration to date has been the global smallpox eradication program. In the process of eradicating smallpox, there were also many ethical dilemmas, including the international pattern of the US-Soviet hegemony, which impacted the mutual help between countries, the ethical disputes of the vaccine itself hindering solidarity and cooperation among actors, and the vaccine coercion adopted to overcome vaccine hesitancy undermining the principle of proportionality among the freedom, equality and efficacy. The ethical dilemmas of vaccine cooperation were resolved by shaping professional and scientific consensus among medical professional groups, reaching consensus on cooperation between leading countries and developing countries, and integrating local culture to improve vaccination methods. Finally, in 1980, the world successfully eradicated smallpox. The case of smallpox eradication provides us lessons for vaccine cooperation against COVID-19 and the construction of a community of common health for mankind today. © 2022, Editorial department of Chinese Medical Ethics. All rights reserved.