Topic 7.5
Key Concepts
- Understanding different ethical positions helps navigate the balance between scientific progress, public safety, and individual rights.
- Ethics in medical research encourage transparent communication and respect for participants’ autonomy in choosing to take part in trials.
- Testing on animals ensures the safety of drugs and treatments before human trials, but it remains controversial due to concerns about animal welfare and rights.
- Clinical trials involving humans are critical for evaluating the effectiveness of medical advancements while balancing ethical considerations like consent, fairness, and minimising harm.
Summary
In this topic, you explored the ethical considerations surrounding medical trials and vaccinations. You learned how placebo trials, animal testing, and human trials are used to ensure the safety and effectiveness of treatments while also raising important questions about transparency, consent, and welfare. Understanding these perspectives helps us balance scientific progress with ethical responsibility, promoting fairness and safety in healthcare decisions.
Extension Activities
“What would you decide?”
Explore the ethical challenges in developing and testing vaccines by considering different perspective sand making decisions based on real-world scenarios.
Step 1: Form a Team
Work in small groups. Each group will take on the role of a decision-making body (e.g. a research team, a government health panel, or an international ethics committee, other).
Step 2: Ethical Decision
Your group must make an ethical decision about a new vaccine for a rare but deadly disease. However, there are challenges:
1. The vaccine has only been tested on animals so far.
2. Fast-tracking human trials could save lives, but it carries risks.
3. Resources for testing are limited and may impact other critical health programs.
Step 3: Questions to consider:
1. Should the vaccine trials proceed, and if so, how?
2. Who should be included in the trials (e.g. healthy adults, high-risk groups, volunteers)?
3. How can you ensure the trials are ethical and safe?
4. What safeguards would you put in place to protect participants?