Ethics and Evidence in the Search for a Vaccine and Treatments for COVID-19

There is mounting interest for researchers to start conducting studies with humans as soon as possible to find a vaccine and therapeutic treatments that are safe and effective, write Hastings Center research scholars Karen Maschke and Michael Gusmano, who also is an associate professor at Rutgers School of Public Health. The authors are “not eager to see Covid-19 interventions join the list of others that entered the clinic on the basis of limited or contested evidence of effectiveness and then harmed patients or proved to be ineffective. ” They suggest that effective strategies to minimize this risk require commitment from scientists, physicians, policymakers, patients, and the general public.  To read the full article.