Ethical Failures of the COVID-19 Pandemic Response

This book draws attention to the non-biologicalpolitical, economic, societal and culturalvariables shaping both the emergence and persistence of the COVID-19 pandemic and the global response to it, with a particular focus on political decisionmakers' role in the domestic and international politics surrounding the process of the pandemic. The book identifies the strategic and underlying ethical failures of decision making, using a process-tracing approach to reconstruct considerations, decisions and actions by key leadersinterested in thus weaving a global narrative of the response. The author highlights key speech acts, and interprets the causal implications embedded in a chronological and contextualised appraisal of events, statements and public health measures. The book further discusses the normative ethics of pandemic response, and presents lessons drawn from the present experience. It also offers a normative analysis taking into consideration pre-pandemic guidelines for response, including in the literature of public health ethics and pandemic preparedness plans.

Explores the shortcomings of responses to COVID-19 Highlights non-biological political, economic, societal and cultural factors shaping public health Applies normative analytical approaches to shed light on deviations from the desirable public health practice

Auteur
Péter Marton is Associate Professor at Corvinus University, and Adjunct Professor at McDaniel College, Budapest, Hungary.

Contenu
Chapter 1: Introduction and Analytic Framework.- Part I: War on Paper.- Chapter 2: Ethics in Governance: Pandemic Response as a Vital Interest.- Chapter 3: The Ethics of Response to Plague on Distant Shores.- Chapter 4: The Ethics of Practices in Pandemic Response.- Part II: Friction.- Chapter 5: The Need/Failure to Prepare and Prevent.- Chapter 6: The Need/Failure to Anticipate and Pre-empt.- Chapter 7: The Need/Failure to React, Adequately Prioritise and Persevere.- Chapter 8: The Need/Failure to Honestly Account and Take Responsibility.- Chapter 9: Lessons, Recommendations, Conclusion.