TY  - JOUR
JF  - Vaccine
A1  - Wilson, JGS
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2014.10.009
SN  - 0264-410X
IS  - 52
N1  - © 2014 The Author. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).
SP  - 7179
VL  - 32
KW  - eradication
KW  -  vaccination ethics
KW  -  time discounting
KW  -  global public goods
KW  -  symbolic value
KW  -  ethics
N2  - This paper provides an examination of the ethics of disease eradication policies. It examines three arguments that have been advanced for thinking that eradication is in some way ethically exceptional as a policy goal. These are (1) global eradication has symbolic importance, (2) disease eradication is a global public good and (3) disease eradication is a form of rescue. It argues that none of these provides a good reason to think that individuals have special duties to facilitate eradication campaigns, or that public health authorities have special permissions to pursue them. But the fact that these arguments fail does not entail that global disease eradication is ethically problematic, or that it should not be undertaken. Global eradication of a disease, if successful, is a way of providing an enormous health benefit that stretches far into the future. There is no need to reach for the idea that there is a special duty to eradicate disease; the same considerations that are in play in ordinary public health policy ? of reducing the burden of disease equitably and efficiently ? suffice to make global disease eradication a compelling goal where doing so is feasible.
ID  - discovery1455636
PB  - Elsevier
TI  - The ethics of disease eradication
Y1  - 2014/12/12/
AV  - public
EP  - 7183
ER  -