Author: Efthimios Parasidis, Amy L. Fairchild
Publisher: The New England Journal of Medicine
Publication Year: 2022
Summary: The following article argues that a lack of professional ethicists on public health teams during the pandemic was a large part of the divisiveness surrounding best practices of handling the pandemic. The common mantra “follow the science” led people to search for their own science, and from there, it was hard to dissuade people from their views. Now, hiring ethicists will not fix all the divisiveness that exists, but the hope is to incorporate diverse perspectives so that at least more sides of the story are heard and implemented. Policymakers from both sides support evaluating the government directives about pandemic best practice, as evidenced by bipartisan support for the PREVENT Pandemics Act which would establish a commission with an underlying ethics framework.