What are the ethical challenges facing new coronavirus control?



The new type of coronavirus infection (COVID-19) has finally been approved as a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on March 12, 2020. Regarding new coronavirus infections, not only are therapeutic drugs and vaccines being developed around the world, but efforts are being made to prevent the spread of the virus by avoiding human-to-human contact as much as possible. . However, controlling the new coronavirus infection 'has a wide range of ethical challenges,' the Australian academic news site The Conversation points out.

The coronavirus pandemic is forcing us to ask some very hard questions.But are we ready for the answers?
https://theconversation.com/the-coronavirus-pandemic-is-forcing-us-to-ask-some-very-hard-questions-but-are-we-ready-for-the-answers-132581

According to WHO, as of March 11, 2020, 118,000 people in 114 countries have been infected with the new coronavirus, and 4,291 have died. In addition, the spread of the new coronavirus in China until mid-February 2020 has been widespread worldwide since March 2020.

The following is a graph created based on data on a new type of coronavirus infection published by the John Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering. In addition to showing the number of cases (vertical axis) in chronological order (horizontal axis), the countries where the cases were reported are indicated by color.



Under these circumstances, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation , founded by Microsoft's founder Bill Gates, is working to accelerate the development of new coronavirus infectious disease therapeutics 'COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator Announced. Along with Wellcome and Mastercard, it has revealed that it will invest up to $ 125 million.

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announces `` COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator '' to accelerate the development of therapeutic agents for new coronavirus infections with more than 13 billion yen funding-GIGAZINE



The Conversation points out that while research on new coronavirus infections would cost a lot of money, funding is not the only problem in developing therapeutics and treatments. The Conversation has identified three ethical challenges in developing new therapies for new coronavirus infections:

◆ 1: Develop new drugs quickly and safely
New drug development must strike a balance between 'unknown risks in developing therapeutics' and 'taking action quickly enough to limit the spread of the virus.' The most important of these is 'ensuring adequate monitoring of clinical trials' while accelerating the development of new drugs.

The Conversation recommends that the elaborate framework for clinical trials include the National Statement on Ethical Conduct, developed by the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council .



'In an emergency situation, it may be possible to speed up decision-making and make the system more responsive, based on bureaucracy and deficit reduction. However, we will adopt the framework of the National Council of Health Research That could also be a big help when you return to 'business as usual', 'wrote The Conversation and recommends adopting the framework.

◆ 2: To what extent do you allow personal freedom?
To stop the epidemic of infectious diseases, the question is how much individual freedom, such as “ freedom of residence and relocation ” and “ rights of patients, ” is recognized.

In China, the source of the new coronavirus infection, a woman shopping at a supermarket in Shenzhen , Guangdong, was arrested for refusing to wear a mask.

A case occurs in China where a woman who refused to wear a mask is arrested-gigazine



In addition, in order to facilitate to be bound or isolate the people that may have been exposed to the new coronavirus in Australia bill and has been submitted to the parliament, efforts method to bind the freedom of the individual is different from country to country . Healthcare professionals, on the other hand, continue to serve their patients with courage and dedication, even if they put themselves at risk.

The Conversation says, 'How much can we give up our personal freedom? Will we accept voluntary quarantine at home or quarantine in health care facilities? Authorities have entered people's homes and infected people Would you allow them to be arrested? ', She fears that over-regulated regulations may remain after the epidemic has ended.

◆ 3: How to allocate scarce resources?
As the number of cases increases worldwide, how to allocate limited resources such as drugs, intensive care units, and research funds becomes a major issue. The question of who should take priority for rare drugs and treatments has long been a topic of debate among health professionals.

Ethical issues such as 'how to allocate the scarce resources?', 'How much admit? The freedom of the individual' and, rather than leave it to the judgment of experts and government authorities, the general public is involved Deliberative The Conversation says it needs to be decided on a democratic basis.



Finally, The Conversation states, 'We need to strive to protect the vulnerable of society while protecting the ethical values of respect, responsibility and fairness to each other, which is difficult in today's harsh and uncompromised times. Maybe there is no easy solution to satisfy everyone, but at least we can start talking about these issues, and that's the best we can do for now. ' It is important that each person begins to think about the problems facing society as a whole.

in Note, Posted by logu_ii