PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

It's morally wrong for rich nations to hoard COVID-19 vaccine

"Vaccine nationalism" fails to respect human rights

2021-02-16
(Press-News.org) BINGHAMTON, NY -- Rich nations should not engage in "vaccine nationalism" and keep the COVID-19 vaccine to themselves when poorer nations need them, according to Nicole Hassoun, professor of philosophy at Binghamton University, State University of New York. Hassoun's paper, "Against Vaccine Nationalism," was published in the Journal of Medical Ethics.

While rich countries like the US and UK are starting to vaccinate their populations against COVID-19, poor countries may lack access to a vaccine for years. Canada, for instance, has already secured enough to vaccinate its entire population nine times over, and the US, European Union, UK, Australia, and Japan can vaccinate their populations between 2-8x.

"Vaccine nationalism is neither ethically justified, nor even in rich countries' long term self-interest," said Hassoun. "No one deserves the luck of their birth and few have much control over their country of residence. So when there are four ventilators per 12 million people in some developing countries, and people are being buried in cardboard boxes in mass graves, it is simply unconscionable to argue that wealthy countries can keep their vaccines to themselves or even help their populations first. Vaccine nationalism fails to respect basic human rights and the people that have them."

National leaders make promises and undertake commitments to protect their own, but they can't always prioritize their own citizens, said Hassoun. She believes that when national leaders engage in international efforts they adopt new role responsibilities - doing so often requires national leaders to act for the (global) common good.

"Consider an analogy - suppose a CEO is morally bound to advance the interests of stakeholders but learns that her company is profiting from polluting the Amazon. Is it acceptable for her to continue to allow her company to do so? Clearly not. Similarly, if her company could help avert a genocide or otherwise save many lives at some cost to shareholders, she might be morally bound to do so."

Hassoun also pointed out that it's in rich countries' long-term interests to equitably distribute vaccines.

"The COVID pandemic may continue to circle the globe for much longer (or indefinitely) if we do not fight it where the worst outbreaks are occurring," said Hassoun. "And herd immunity in rich countries is by no means guaranteed. Helping establish basic health infrastructure internationally (to not only vaccinate against COVID but a host of vaccine-preventable diseases) could greatly lower the global burden of disease."

INFORMATION:



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Insights from complexity science: More trust in self-organization needed

2021-02-16
Globalization, digitalization, sustainabilization - three major waves of transformation are unfolding around the world. The social upheaval caused by these transformation processes has given rise to populist movements that endanger social harmony and threaten democratic values. What rules and institutions can promote stability in the face of such systemic risks? A new study published by the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) offers some surprising answers. The coronavirus pandemic has demonstrated for the first time how a systemic risk can sweep across our globalized world. It began with the little-noticed outbreak of an unknown ...

Getting the lead in

Getting the lead in
2021-02-16
The lithium-ion battery powers everything from mobile phones to laptops to electric vehicles. Scientists worldwide are always on the hunt for new and improved components to build better batteries for these and other applications. Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory report a new electrode design for the lithium-ion battery using the low-cost materials lead as well as carbon. Contributors to this pivotal discovery also include scientists from Northwestern University, Brookhaven National Laboratory and the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST). "Our new anode could offer a new revenue stream for the large industry currently engaged in lead-acid battery ...

Application of potassium to grass used as cover crop guarantees higher-quality cotton

Application of potassium to grass used as cover crop guarantees higher-quality cotton
2021-02-16
By Maria Fernanda Ziegler | Agência FAPESP – The use of cover crops between cotton harvests protects the soil, conserves water, and reduces the risk of erosion. Researchers at the University of Western São Paulo (UNOESTE) and São Paulo State University (UNESP) in Brazil found that application of potassium (K) to a grass cover crop grown before cotton in sandy soil lowered production cost and resulted in cotton with a higher market value. “The dynamics of early application of potassium to grass planted as a cover crop before cotton ...

Crocodile evolution rebooted by Ice Age glaciations

Crocodile evolution rebooted by Ice Age glaciations
2021-02-16
Crocodiles are resilient animals from a lineage that has survived for over 200 million years. Skilled swimmers, crocodiles can travel long distances and live in freshwater to marine environments. But they can't roam far overland. American crocodiles (Crocodylus acutus) are found in the Caribbean and Pacific coasts of the Neotropics but they arrived in the Pacific before Panama existed, according to researchers from McGill University. Over 3 million years ago, the formation of the Isthmus of Panama altered global ocean circulation, connecting North and South America and establishing the Caribbean Sea. This resulted in widespread mixing of species ...

First test for all known human coronaviruses, including new SARS-CoV-2 variants

2021-02-16
Scientists at the Center for Infection and Immunity (CII) at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and SunYat-Sen University in China have set the stage for the development of highly sensitive antibody tests for infection with all known human coronaviruses, including new variants of SARS-CoV-2. These tests should also allow differentiation of immune responses due to infection and vaccination. The research is published in Communications Biology, a Nature journal. The HCoV-Peptide array developed by CII scientists consists of 3 million immune markers on a glass chip, ...

IU researchers find disease-related gene changes in kidney tissue

2021-02-16
INDIANAPOLIS--Researchers from Indiana University have identified key genetic changes in the interstitial kidney tissue of people with diabetes, a discovery that signifies the potential for a revolutionary new genetic approach to the treatment of kidney disease. They will contribute their findings to the Kidney Precision Medicine Project's (KPMP) "cell atlas," a set of maps used to classify and locate different cell types and structures within the kidney. They shared their groundbreaking findings in a study published on February 10, 2021, in Science Advances. In the study, researchers investigated the kidney tissue of healthy people and people with diabetes using a technique called "regional transcriptomics." This technique involves a rapid ...

COVID-19 infection rates high in pregnant women

COVID-19 infection rates high in pregnant women
2021-02-16
The COVID-19 infection rate among pregnant women was estimated to be 70% higher than in similarly aged adults in Washington state, according to a new study published today in American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Other key findings include: The study also showed that the number of COVID-19 infections in pregnant patients from nearly all communities of color in Washington was high. There was a twofold to fourfold higher prevalence of pregnant patients with COVID-19 infections from communities of color than expected based on the race-ethnicity distribution of pregnant women in Washington in 2018. A high number of pregnant women with COVID-19 received ...

Cancer research: Targeted elimination of leukemic stem cells

Cancer research: Targeted elimination of leukemic stem cells
2021-02-16
Leukemia is caused by leukemic stem cells which are resistant to most known therapies. Relapses are also due to this resistance. Leukemic stem cells arise from normal blood-forming (hematopoietic) stem cells. Because they are closely related, leukemic and hematopoietic stem cells share many of the same signaling pathways. If the proliferation of leukemic stem cells is to be stopped, it is crucial to find signaling pathways that are active only in the leukemic stem cell, but not the normal one. With this goal in mind, Prof. Adrian Ochsenbein and his team are conducting research at the Department ...

The smallest galaxies in our universe bring more about dark matter to light

The smallest galaxies in our universe bring more about dark matter to light
2021-02-16
Our universe is dominated by a mysterious matter known as dark matter. Its name comes from the fact that dark matter does not absorb, reflect or emit electromagnetic radiation, making it difficult to detect. Now, a team of researchers has investigated the strength of dark matter scattered across the smallest galaxies in the universe using stellar kinematics. "We discovered that the strength of dark matter is quite small, suggesting that dark matter does not easily scatter together," said professor Kohei Hayashi, lead author of the study. Much is unknown about dark matter, but theoretical and experimental research, from particle physics to astronomy, are elucidating more ...

3D model shows off the insides of a giant permafrost crater

3D model shows off the insides of a giant permafrost crater
2021-02-16
Researchers from the Oil and Gas Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences and their Skoltech colleagues have surveyed the newest known 30-meter deep gas blowout crater on the Yamal Peninsula, which formed in the summer of 2020. The paper was published in the journal Geosciences. Giant craters in the Russian Arctic, thought to be the remnants of powerful gas blowouts, first attracted worldwide attention in 2014, when the 20 to 40-meter wide Yamal Crater was found quite close to the Bovanenkovo gas field. The prevailing hypothesis is that these craters are formed after gas is accumulated in cavities in the upper layers of permafrost, and ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Are lifetimes of big appliances really shrinking?

Pink skies

Monkeys are world’s best yodellers - new research

Key differences between visual- and memory-led Alzheimer’s discovered

% weight loss targets in obesity management – is this the wrong objective?

An app can change how you see yourself at work

NYC speed cameras take six months to change driver behavior, effects vary by neighborhood, new study reveals

New research shows that propaganda is on the rise in China

Even the richest Americans face shorter lifespans than their European counterparts, study finds

Novel genes linked to rare childhood diarrhea

New computer model reveals how Bronze Age Scandinavians could have crossed the sea

Novel point-of-care technology delivers accurate HIV results in minutes

Researchers reveal key brain differences to explain why Ritalin helps improve focus in some more than others

Study finds nearly five-fold increase in hospitalizations for common cause of stroke

Study reveals how alcohol abuse damages cognition

Medicinal cannabis is linked to long-term benefits in health-related quality of life

Microplastics detected in cat placentas and fetuses during early pregnancy

Ancient amphibians as big as alligators died in mass mortality event in Triassic Wyoming

Scientists uncover the first clear evidence of air sacs in the fossilized bones of alvarezsaurian dinosaurs: the "hollow bones" which help modern day birds to fly

Alcohol makes male flies sexy

TB patients globally often incur "catastrophic costs" of up to $11,329 USD, despite many countries offering free treatment, with predominant drivers of cost being hospitalization and loss of income

Study links teen girls’ screen time to sleep disruptions and depression

Scientists unveil starfish-inspired wearable tech for heart monitoring

Footprints reveal prehistoric Scottish lagoons were stomping grounds for giant Jurassic dinosaurs

AI effectively predicts dementia risk in American Indian/Alaska Native elders

First guideline on newborn screening for cystic fibrosis calls for changes in practice to improve outcomes

Existing international law can help secure peace and security in outer space, study shows

Pinning down the process of West Nile virus transmission

UTA-backed research tackles health challenges across ages

In pancreatic cancer, a race against time

[Press-News.org] It's morally wrong for rich nations to hoard COVID-19 vaccine
"Vaccine nationalism" fails to respect human rights