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Kelsall J. COVID-19 vaccine refusal as unfair free-riding. MEDICINE, HEALTH CARE, AND PHILOSOPHY 2024; 27:107-119. [PMID: 38189907 PMCID: PMC10904454 DOI: 10.1007/s11019-023-10188-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 11/30/2023] [Indexed: 01/09/2024]
Abstract
Contributions to COVID-19 vaccination programmes promise valuable collective goods. They can support public and individual health by creating herd immunity and taking the pressure off overwhelmed public health services; support freedom of movement by enabling governments to remove restrictive lockdown policies; and improve economic and social well-being by allowing businesses, schools, and other essential public services to re-open. The vaccinated can contribute to the production of these goods. The unvaccinated, who benefit from, but who do not contribute to these goods can be morally criticised as free-riders. In this paper defends the claim that in the case of COVID-19, the unvaccinated are unfair free-riders. I defend the claim against two objections. First, that they are not unfair free-riders because they lack the subjective attitudes and intentions of free-riders; second, that although the unvaccinated may be free-riders, their free-riding is not unfair.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joshua Kelsall
- University of Warwick, PAIS Building, Coventry, CV47AL, UK.
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Stoddard M, Van Egeren D, Johnson KE, Rao S, Furgeson J, White DE, Nolan RP, Hochberg N, Chakravarty A. Individually optimal choices can be collectively disastrous in COVID-19 disease control. BMC Public Health 2021; 21:832. [PMID: 33931055 PMCID: PMC8085805 DOI: 10.1186/s12889-021-10829-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2021] [Accepted: 04/09/2021] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The word 'pandemic' conjures dystopian images of bodies stacked in the streets and societies on the brink of collapse. Despite this frightening picture, denialism and noncompliance with public health measures are common in the historical record, for example during the 1918 Influenza pandemic or the 2015 Ebola epidemic. The unique characteristics of SARS-CoV-2-its high basic reproduction number (R0), time-limited natural immunity and considerable potential for asymptomatic spread-exacerbate the public health repercussions of noncompliance with interventions (such as vaccines and masks) to limit disease transmission. Our work explores the rationality and impact of noncompliance with measures aimed at limiting the spread of SARS-CoV-2. METHODS In this work, we used game theory to explore when noncompliance confers a perceived benefit to individuals. We then used epidemiological modeling to predict the impact of noncompliance on control of SARS-CoV-2, demonstrating that the presence of a noncompliant subpopulation prevents suppression of disease spread. RESULTS Our modeling demonstrates that noncompliance is a Nash equilibrium under a broad set of conditions and that the existence of a noncompliant population can result in extensive endemic disease in the long-term after a return to pre-pandemic social and economic activity. Endemic disease poses a threat for both compliant and noncompliant individuals; all community members are protected if complete suppression is achieved, which is only possible with a high degree of compliance. For interventions that are highly effective at preventing disease spread, however, the consequences of noncompliance are borne disproportionately by noncompliant individuals. CONCLUSIONS In sum, our work demonstrates the limits of free-market approaches to compliance with disease control measures during a pandemic. The act of noncompliance with disease intervention measures creates a negative externality, rendering suppression of SARS-CoV-2 spread ineffective. Our work underscores the importance of developing effective strategies for prophylaxis through public health measures aimed at complete suppression and the need to focus on compliance at a population level.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Debra Van Egeren
- Department of Systems Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
- Department of Data Science, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA
- Stem Cell Program, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Kaitlyn E Johnson
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA
| | - Smriti Rao
- Department of Economics, Assumption College, Worcester, MA, USA
| | - Josh Furgeson
- International Initiative for Impact Evaluation, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | | | | | - Natasha Hochberg
- Boston Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA
- Department of Epidemiology, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
- Department of Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA
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Ethics of Vaccination in Childhood-A Framework Based on the Four Principles of Biomedical Ethics. Vaccines (Basel) 2021; 9:vaccines9020113. [PMID: 33540732 PMCID: PMC7913000 DOI: 10.3390/vaccines9020113] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/11/2021] [Revised: 01/19/2021] [Accepted: 01/29/2021] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Although vaccination is recognised as the top public health achievement of the twentieth century, unequivocal consensus about its beneficence does not exist among the general population. In countries with well-established immunisation programmes, vaccines are “victims of their own success”, because low incidences of diseases now prevented with vaccines diminished the experience of their historical burdens. Increasing number of vaccine-hesitant people in recent years threatens, or even effectively disables, herd immunity levels of the population and results in outbreaks of previously already controlled diseases. We aimed to apply a framework for ethical analysis of vaccination in childhood based on the four principles of biomedical ethics (respect for autonomy, nonmaleficence, beneficence and justice) to provide a comprehensive and applicable model on how to address the ethical aspects of vaccination at both individual and societal levels. We suggest finding an “ethical equilibrium”, which means that the degree of respect for parents’ autonomy is not constant, but variable; it shall depend on the level of established herd immunity and it is specific for every society. When the moral obligation of individuals to contribute to herd immunity is not fulfilled, mandatory vaccination policies are ethically justified, because states bear responsibility to protect herd immunity as a common good.
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Kabir KMA, Jusup M, Tanimoto J. Behavioral incentives in a vaccination-dilemma setting with optional treatment. Phys Rev E 2019; 100:062402. [PMID: 31962423 DOI: 10.1103/physreve.100.062402] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2019] [Indexed: 04/28/2023]
Abstract
Social dilemmas are situations wherein individuals choose between selfish interest and common good. One example of this is the vaccination dilemma, in which an individual who vaccinates at a cost protects not only himself but also others by helping maintain a common good called herd immunity. There is, however, a strong incentive to forgo vaccination, thus avoiding the associated cost, all the while enjoying the protection of herd immunity. To analyze behavioral incentives in a vaccination-dilemma setting in which an optional treatment is available to infected individuals, we combined epidemiological and game-theoretic methodologies by coupling a disease-spreading model with treatment and an evolutionary decision-making model. Extensive numerical simulations show that vaccine characteristics are more important in controlling the treatment adoption than the cost of treatment itself. The main effect of the latter is that expensive treatment incentivizes vaccination, which somewhat surprisingly comes at a little cost to society. More surprising is that the margin for a true synergy between vaccine and treatment in reducing the final epidemic size is very small. We furthermore find that society-centered decision making helps protect herd immunity relative to individual-centered decision making, but the latter may be better in establishing a novel vaccine. These results point to useful policy recommendations as well as to intriguing future research directions.
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Affiliation(s)
- K M Ariful Kabir
- Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Engineering Sciences, Kyushu University, Kasuga-koen, Kasuga-shi, Fukuoka 816-8580, Japan
- Department of Mathematics, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, BUET Central Road, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh
| | - Marko Jusup
- World Research Hub Initiative (WRHI), Institute of Innovative Research, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Nagatsuta-cho 4259, Midori-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa 226-8503, Japan
| | - Jun Tanimoto
- Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Engineering Sciences, Kyushu University, Kasuga-koen, Kasuga-shi, Fukuoka 816-8580, Japan
- Faculty of Engineering Sciences, Kyushu University, Kasuga-koen, Kasuga-shi, Fukuoka 816-8580, Japan
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Pereda M, Tamarit I, Antonioni A, Cuesta JA, Hernández P, Sánchez A. Large scale and information effects on cooperation in public good games. Sci Rep 2019; 9:15023. [PMID: 31636287 PMCID: PMC6803689 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-50964-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/12/2019] [Accepted: 09/12/2019] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
The problem of public good provision is central in economics and touches upon many challenging societal issues, ranging from climate change mitigation to vaccination schemes. However, results which are supposed to be applied to a societal scale have only been obtained with small groups of people, with a maximum group size of 100 being reported in the literature. This work takes this research to a new level by carrying out and analysing experiments on public good games with up to 1000 simultaneous players. The experiments are carried out via an online protocol involving daily decisions for extended periods. Our results show that within those limits, participants' behaviour and collective outcomes in very large groups are qualitatively like those in smaller ones. On the other hand, large groups imply the difficulty of conveying information on others' choices to the participants. We thus consider different information conditions and show that they have a drastic effect on subjects' contributions. We also classify the individual decisions and find that they can be described by a moderate number of types. Our findings allow to extend the conclusions of smaller experiments to larger settings and are therefore a relevant step forward towards the understanding of human behaviour and the organisation of our society.
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Affiliation(s)
- María Pereda
- Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros Industriales, Departamento Ingeniería de Organización, Administración de empresas y Estadística, Madrid, Spain.
- Unidad Mixta Interdisciplinar de Comportamiento y Complejidad Social (UMICCS), Madrid, Spain.
| | - Ignacio Tamarit
- Unidad Mixta Interdisciplinar de Comportamiento y Complejidad Social (UMICCS), Madrid, Spain
- Grupo Interdisciplinar de Sistemas Complejos, Departamento de Matemáticas, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, 28911 Leganés, Madrid, Spain
| | - Alberto Antonioni
- Grupo Interdisciplinar de Sistemas Complejos, Departamento de Matemáticas, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, 28911 Leganés, Madrid, Spain
| | - Jose A Cuesta
- Unidad Mixta Interdisciplinar de Comportamiento y Complejidad Social (UMICCS), Madrid, Spain
- Grupo Interdisciplinar de Sistemas Complejos, Departamento de Matemáticas, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, 28911 Leganés, Madrid, Spain
- Institute for Biocomputation and Physics of Complex Systems (BIFI), University of Zaragoza, 50018, Zaragoza, Spain
- Institute UC3M-BS for Financial Big Data (IFiBiD), Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, 28903 Getafe, Madrid, Spain
| | - Penélope Hernández
- Unidad Mixta Interdisciplinar de Comportamiento y Complejidad Social (UMICCS), Madrid, Spain
- ERI-CES and Departamento de Análisis Económico, Facultad de Economía, Universidad de Valencia, Avenida de los Naranjos s/n, 46022, Valencia, Spain
| | - Angel Sánchez
- Unidad Mixta Interdisciplinar de Comportamiento y Complejidad Social (UMICCS), Madrid, Spain
- Grupo Interdisciplinar de Sistemas Complejos, Departamento de Matemáticas, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, 28911 Leganés, Madrid, Spain
- Institute for Biocomputation and Physics of Complex Systems (BIFI), University of Zaragoza, 50018, Zaragoza, Spain
- Institute UC3M-BS for Financial Big Data (IFiBiD), Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, 28903 Getafe, Madrid, Spain
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Predicting the public health benefit of vaccinating cattle against Escherichia coli O157. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2013; 110:16265-70. [PMID: 24043803 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1304978110] [Citation(s) in RCA: 87] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Identifying the major sources of risk in disease transmission is key to designing effective controls. However, understanding of transmission dynamics across species boundaries is typically poor, making the design and evaluation of controls particularly challenging for zoonotic pathogens. One such global pathogen is Escherichia coli O157, which causes a serious and sometimes fatal gastrointestinal illness. Cattle are the main reservoir for E. coli O157, and vaccines for cattle now exist. However, adoption of vaccines is being delayed by conflicting responsibilities of veterinary and public health agencies, economic drivers, and because clinical trials cannot easily test interventions across species boundaries, lack of information on the public health benefits. Here, we examine transmission risk across the cattle-human species boundary and show three key results. First, supershedding of the pathogen by cattle is associated with the genetic marker stx2. Second, by quantifying the link between shedding density in cattle and human risk, we show that only the relatively rare supershedding events contribute significantly to human risk. Third, we show that this finding has profound consequences for the public health benefits of the cattle vaccine. A naïve evaluation based on efficacy in cattle would suggest a 50% reduction in risk; however, because the vaccine targets the major source of human risk, we predict a reduction in human cases of nearly 85%. By accounting for nonlinearities in transmission across the human-animal interface, we show that adoption of these vaccines by the livestock industry could prevent substantial numbers of human E. coli O157 cases.
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The 'One Health' paradigm: Time for infectious diseases clinicians to take note? CANADIAN JOURNAL OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES & MEDICAL MICROBIOLOGY 2011; 21:111-4. [PMID: 21886646 DOI: 10.1155/2010/420628] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
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