Tag Archives: COVID-19

COVID-19 vs. Childhood Immunization? A Bioethics Perspective from Nigeria

Posted on June 25, 2020 by

This post is a part of our Bioethics in the News series By Felix Chukwuneke, MD Avoiding the Impending Calamity: Our Ethical Responsibility United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has warned that COVID-19 is disrupting life-saving immunization services around the world, putting millions … Continue reading →

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Brews and Views events pivot to online format

Posted on May 21, 2020 by

As members of the MSU community continue to work remotely and practice social distancing, Brews and Views has pivoted to online-only “at home editions” of the series that addresses the implications and ethical considerations of biomedical innovations and topics at … Continue reading →

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COVID-19 Vaccine: “Not throwing away my shot”

Posted on May 18, 2020 by

In the advent of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, there is an underlying belief in the United States that a COVID-19 vaccine may be the Holy Grail, the silver bullet to assuage the pandemic and open up the quarantine doors. Yet, there is a divide in the United States regarding vaccination acceptance. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports less than 50% of adults receive the vaccine for influenza (flu). In the 2017-2018 flu season, 37.1% received the vaccine, the lowest rate in ten years. Continue reading →

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The Promises and Perils of Using Collective Data to Monitor COVID-19

Posted on April 23, 2020 by

In a state of public health emergency, such as the one brought on by COVID-19, different countries have invoked extra powers to help mitigate the public health threat. These special powers would under normal circumstances be considered infringements on our liberty and privacy. A recent Wired article addressed that big tech companies like Google and Facebook are having discussions with the White House to share collective data on people’s movement during the current pandemic. For example, using phone location data or private social media posts to help track whether people are remaining at home and keeping a safe distance to stem the outbreak, and to measure the effectiveness of calls for social distancing. Continue reading →

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A Reasonable and Virtuous Response to a Pandemic

Posted on March 26, 2020 by

Within five days of the first two registered cases here in Michigan, social media traffic about COVID-19 visibly ramped up, with a significant amount of COVID-19-related posts on my news feeds. This was the same for my friends. People were posting photos of entire local store aisles almost empty. I went to the store and to my astonishment, checkout lanes had long lines of individuals with carts filled with toilet paper, water, and hand sanitizer. Every single cart looked the same. I thought, what is happening? Continue reading →

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