Pandemics and intergenerational justice: Vaccination and the wellbeing of future societies ; FRFG policy paper

Abstract

Has the world responded to the coronavirus pandemic in an intergenerationally just manner? Three aspects are relevant to intergenerational justice: the number of dead and ill (medical dimension), the economic downturn (economic dimension), and the additional national debt (financial dimension). The goal must be to protect future societies from the cumulative damage that pandemics may cause. Against this background, a new vaccination strategy for humanity - and this includes the individual national states - turns out to be the most important element. Such a strategy would help to ease the diseases we can ease and eradicate the diseases we can eradicate. Herd immunity should not only be the goal for the rich countries but for humanity as a whole. This is not only necessary for social and/or developmental reasons, but also serves the self-protection of the richer countries in an inter-connected world. We need more government funding for prophylactic vaccine research. This would lead to the typical development time of a vaccine - 10-12 years on average - being shortened. The rapid development of vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 shows that a reduction to 1-2 years is possible if the necessary resources are made available. The testing of vaccine candidates for each infectious disease, however, comes with the cost of at least in the high three-digit million euro range. Profit-oriented companies cannot reasonably be expected to produce vaccines in advance that may never be needed at their own expense. In the future, vaccines must therefore be treated as "global public goods", whose development and production are primarily the responsibility of states. The record amounts pledged by governments at the donor conferences for vaccines in 2020/2021 show the beginning of a paradigm shift. However, this approach will come to nothing if the willingness of individuals to be vaccinated does not increase at the same time, as well. Here, every single member of the current generation has a duty of solidarity towards future generations. This should be made aware of and weighed against self-interest. Responsible epidemiological individual behavior includes regular (repeated) vaccinations for the purpose of prevention. This applies in the context of parental responsibility concerning to child vaccinations, but also for adults, e.g. in the context of an annual influenza vaccination. In doing so, thousands of deaths can be avoided, which for the most part have been tolerated by our society up until now. Two changes of the framework conditions are central to this: 1) Vaccinations should be generally free of charge for the entire population. 2) Vaccinations should be easily accessible, with only few exceptions. This means that vaccinations should be available not only from doctors but also from pharmacies.