Master in Food Ethics and Law

UNESCO Chair in Bioethics

Contact

  • Bioethics and Law Observatory
  • UNESCO Chair in Bioethics
  • University of Barcelona
  • Faculty of Law
  • Ave. Diagonal, 684
  • 08034 Barcelona
  • (+34) 93 403 45 46
  • obd.ub@ub.edu
  •  
  • Master in Bioethics and Law
  • (+34) 93 403 45 46
  • master.bd@ub.edu

 

"Who Goes First? Government Leaders and Prioritization of SARS-CoV-2 Vaccines"

The New England Journal of Medicine

The vice president, Senate majority leader, House speaker, surgeon general, and members of Con-gress  were  among  the  first  people  vaccinated  against Covid-19 in the United States. The pres-ident-elect,  incoming  first  lady,  vice  president-elect, and her husband were also vaccinated in the first phase. Yet prioritization frameworks created by  expert  panels  and  adopted  by  states  do  not  grant government leaders any special status, and giving them priority raises important questions of fairness and transparency. As vaccination pro-ceeds,  will  other  political  or  institutional  lead-ers, or even celebrities and elite athletes, decide that prioritization plans don’t apply to them?