Navigating the Pandemic’s Most Difficult Decisions

Maxwell Smith, Western University

Setting priorities for the allocation of COVID-19 vaccines; vaccination mandates and passports; school closures; lockdowns; travel restrictions. The COVID-19 pandemic has required policymakers to make profoundly difficult decisions that have had far-reaching impacts on the public’s health and well-being. This presentation will explore the crucial role of ethics in navigating the pandemic’s most difficult decisions, the role of the ethicist as an advisor to decision-makers in this context, and, finally, how thinking about ethics in a pandemic has in many cases required a shift from traditional approaches to ethics in medicine and health care.

Contact:

Questions regarding the Harry Crowe Foundation Olivieri Lecture can be sent to CAUT Events / Événements ACPPU at events-evenements@caut.ca.