Arthur Caplan - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Arthur Caplan

Journal of Clinical Investigation, May 18, 2020

Journal of Law and the Biosciences, 2020

American Journal of Bioethics, Apr 3, 2015

Clinical Infectious Diseases, May 27, 2020

Science, 2020

The world needs to trust science if vaccines are to prove useful, particularly those being develo... more The world needs to trust science if vaccines are to prove useful, particularly those being developed to combat coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). That is what makes the recent appearance of highly visible “do-it-yourself” (DIY) vaccine research so morally troubling. It's an obstacle to securing this trust.

Journal of Medical Ethics, 2020

Although a safe, effective, and licensed coronavirus vaccine does not yet exist, there is already... more Although a safe, effective, and licensed coronavirus vaccine does not yet exist, there is already controversy over how it ought to be allocated. Justice is clearly at stake, but it is unclear what justice requires in the international distribution of a scarce vaccine during a pandemic. Many are condemning ‘vaccine nationalism’ as an obstacle to equitable global distribution. We argue that limited national partiality in allocating vaccines will be a component of justice rather than an obstacle to it. For there are role-based and community-embedded responsibilities to take care of one’s own, which constitute legitimate moral reasons for some identity-related prioritisation. Furthermore, a good form of vaccine nationalism prioritises one’s own without denying or ignoring duties derived from a principle of equal worth, according to which all persons, regardless of citizenship or identity, equally deserve vaccine-induced protection from COVID-19. Rather than dismissing nationalism as a t...

The American Journal of Bioethics, 2020

Science and Engineering Ethics, 2020

Journal of Law and the Biosciences, 2020

Journal of Clinical Investigation, 2020

PLoS biology, 2018

The United States is the only major nation to not yet have ratified the United Nations Convention... more The United States is the only major nation to not yet have ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). Recently, there has been an erosion of the rights of children across America, Europe, and elsewhere, but through science, we may have an opportunity to counter some of this alarming trend. In the area of vaccines, the scientific community can raise its voice on the dangers that nonmedical exemptions and delays pose to children at risk for measles, influenza, and other childhood illnesses. Poverty places infants and children at high risk for illness and homelessness. Gun violence and gun-related accidents are killing on average four American children daily, and climate change is promoting global pediatric malnutrition. Increasing international, federal, and state support to seek innovative solutions to these and related issues is a moral imperative.

The American journal of bioethics : AJOB, 2015

There are competing ethical concerns when it comes to designing any clinical research study. Clin... more There are competing ethical concerns when it comes to designing any clinical research study. Clinical trials of possible treatments for Ebola virus are no exception. If anything, the competing ethical concerns are exacerbated in trying to find answers to a deadly, rapidly spreading, infectious disease. The primary goal of current research is to identify experimental therapies that can cure Ebola or cure it with reasonable probability in infected individuals. Pursuit of that goal must be methodologically sound, practical and consistent with prevailing norms governing human subjects research. Some maintain that only randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with a placebo or standard-of-care arm can meet these conditions. We maintain that there are alternative trial designs that can do so as well and that sometimes these are preferable to RCTs.

Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal, 2008

Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics, 2014

In this series of essays, The Road Less Traveled, noted bioethicists share their stories and the ... more In this series of essays, The Road Less Traveled, noted bioethicists share their stories and the personal experiences that prompted them to pursue the field. These memoirs are less professional chronologies and more descriptions of the seminal touchstone events and turning points that led—often unexpectedly—to their career path.

Canadian journal public health, 2024

The celebrated 1980 announcement that smallpox had been eradicated was made using the following d... more The celebrated 1980 announcement that smallpox had been eradicated was made using the following definition of eradication: "Permanent reduction to zero of the worldwide incidence of infection caused by a specific agent as a result of deliberate efforts: intervention measures are no longer needed." Public health around the world works with this definition of "eradication," setting it as a goal for other infectious disease control programs. The definition is simple. Its application, however, has produced long-running and complex public health campaigns that threaten the commitment of funders, health care providers, and governments. In this paper, the authors demonstrate the disease-specific challenges of eradication through the example of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI). While many deem eradication worth its high costs because it is the end of morbidity and mortality from a disease, it does not mean the end of disease control efforts. Public health must be prepared for the possibility of disease reoccurrence in the form of undetected natural reservoirs of disease, lab leaks from stored samples, bioterror attacks using stolen samples, and the synthetic recreation of microbes. This paper clarifies the role of reoccurrence prevention in eradication, calling for its addition in the definition of eradication. Résumé L'annonce célèbre de 1980 que la variole a été éradiquée utilisait la définition d'éradication suivante : « Réduction permanente à zero de l'incidence mondiale d'infection causée par un agent spécifique en conséquence d'efforts délibérés : mesures d'intervention ne sont plus nécessaires. » La santé publique globale emploie cette définition de « éradication », la fixant comme objectif pour d'autres programmes de contrôle des maladies transmissibles. La définition est simple. Pourtant, son application a produit des campagnes de santé publique complèxes et de longues durées, qui menacent l'engagement des bailleurs de fonds, les prestataires des soins de santé, et les gouvernements. Dans cet article savant, les auteurs démontrent les obstacles d'éradication spécifiques à une maladie transmissible à travers l'exemple de la Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI). Tandis que l'éradication pourrait peut-être mériter les côuts élevés associés puisqu'elle signifie la fin de la morbidité et la mortalité d'une infection, ceci ne représente pas la fin des efforts de contrôle des maladies. La santé publique doit se préparer pour la possibilité de la réapparition d'une maladie infectieuse en forme de reservoir de maladie naturel non-détecté, fuites de laboratoires des échantillons conservés, attaques bioterroristes utilisant des échantillons volés, et la récréation synthétique des microbes. Cet article savant clarifie le rôle de la prévention de réocurrence dans l'éradication, et demande que ce role soit ajouté à la definition d'éradication.

Journal of Clinical Investigation, May 18, 2020

Journal of Law and the Biosciences, 2020

American Journal of Bioethics, Apr 3, 2015

Clinical Infectious Diseases, May 27, 2020

Science, 2020

The world needs to trust science if vaccines are to prove useful, particularly those being develo... more The world needs to trust science if vaccines are to prove useful, particularly those being developed to combat coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). That is what makes the recent appearance of highly visible “do-it-yourself” (DIY) vaccine research so morally troubling. It's an obstacle to securing this trust.

Journal of Medical Ethics, 2020

Although a safe, effective, and licensed coronavirus vaccine does not yet exist, there is already... more Although a safe, effective, and licensed coronavirus vaccine does not yet exist, there is already controversy over how it ought to be allocated. Justice is clearly at stake, but it is unclear what justice requires in the international distribution of a scarce vaccine during a pandemic. Many are condemning ‘vaccine nationalism’ as an obstacle to equitable global distribution. We argue that limited national partiality in allocating vaccines will be a component of justice rather than an obstacle to it. For there are role-based and community-embedded responsibilities to take care of one’s own, which constitute legitimate moral reasons for some identity-related prioritisation. Furthermore, a good form of vaccine nationalism prioritises one’s own without denying or ignoring duties derived from a principle of equal worth, according to which all persons, regardless of citizenship or identity, equally deserve vaccine-induced protection from COVID-19. Rather than dismissing nationalism as a t...

The American Journal of Bioethics, 2020

Science and Engineering Ethics, 2020

Journal of Law and the Biosciences, 2020

Journal of Clinical Investigation, 2020

PLoS biology, 2018

The United States is the only major nation to not yet have ratified the United Nations Convention... more The United States is the only major nation to not yet have ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). Recently, there has been an erosion of the rights of children across America, Europe, and elsewhere, but through science, we may have an opportunity to counter some of this alarming trend. In the area of vaccines, the scientific community can raise its voice on the dangers that nonmedical exemptions and delays pose to children at risk for measles, influenza, and other childhood illnesses. Poverty places infants and children at high risk for illness and homelessness. Gun violence and gun-related accidents are killing on average four American children daily, and climate change is promoting global pediatric malnutrition. Increasing international, federal, and state support to seek innovative solutions to these and related issues is a moral imperative.

The American journal of bioethics : AJOB, 2015

There are competing ethical concerns when it comes to designing any clinical research study. Clin... more There are competing ethical concerns when it comes to designing any clinical research study. Clinical trials of possible treatments for Ebola virus are no exception. If anything, the competing ethical concerns are exacerbated in trying to find answers to a deadly, rapidly spreading, infectious disease. The primary goal of current research is to identify experimental therapies that can cure Ebola or cure it with reasonable probability in infected individuals. Pursuit of that goal must be methodologically sound, practical and consistent with prevailing norms governing human subjects research. Some maintain that only randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with a placebo or standard-of-care arm can meet these conditions. We maintain that there are alternative trial designs that can do so as well and that sometimes these are preferable to RCTs.

Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal, 2008

Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics, 2014

In this series of essays, The Road Less Traveled, noted bioethicists share their stories and the ... more In this series of essays, The Road Less Traveled, noted bioethicists share their stories and the personal experiences that prompted them to pursue the field. These memoirs are less professional chronologies and more descriptions of the seminal touchstone events and turning points that led—often unexpectedly—to their career path.

Canadian journal public health, 2024

The celebrated 1980 announcement that smallpox had been eradicated was made using the following d... more The celebrated 1980 announcement that smallpox had been eradicated was made using the following definition of eradication: "Permanent reduction to zero of the worldwide incidence of infection caused by a specific agent as a result of deliberate efforts: intervention measures are no longer needed." Public health around the world works with this definition of "eradication," setting it as a goal for other infectious disease control programs. The definition is simple. Its application, however, has produced long-running and complex public health campaigns that threaten the commitment of funders, health care providers, and governments. In this paper, the authors demonstrate the disease-specific challenges of eradication through the example of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI). While many deem eradication worth its high costs because it is the end of morbidity and mortality from a disease, it does not mean the end of disease control efforts. Public health must be prepared for the possibility of disease reoccurrence in the form of undetected natural reservoirs of disease, lab leaks from stored samples, bioterror attacks using stolen samples, and the synthetic recreation of microbes. This paper clarifies the role of reoccurrence prevention in eradication, calling for its addition in the definition of eradication. Résumé L'annonce célèbre de 1980 que la variole a été éradiquée utilisait la définition d'éradication suivante : « Réduction permanente à zero de l'incidence mondiale d'infection causée par un agent spécifique en conséquence d'efforts délibérés : mesures d'intervention ne sont plus nécessaires. » La santé publique globale emploie cette définition de « éradication », la fixant comme objectif pour d'autres programmes de contrôle des maladies transmissibles. La définition est simple. Pourtant, son application a produit des campagnes de santé publique complèxes et de longues durées, qui menacent l'engagement des bailleurs de fonds, les prestataires des soins de santé, et les gouvernements. Dans cet article savant, les auteurs démontrent les obstacles d'éradication spécifiques à une maladie transmissible à travers l'exemple de la Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI). Tandis que l'éradication pourrait peut-être mériter les côuts élevés associés puisqu'elle signifie la fin de la morbidité et la mortalité d'une infection, ceci ne représente pas la fin des efforts de contrôle des maladies. La santé publique doit se préparer pour la possibilité de la réapparition d'une maladie infectieuse en forme de reservoir de maladie naturel non-détecté, fuites de laboratoires des échantillons conservés, attaques bioterroristes utilisant des échantillons volés, et la récréation synthétique des microbes. Cet article savant clarifie le rôle de la prévention de réocurrence dans l'éradication, et demande que ce role soit ajouté à la definition d'éradication.