Second ethical comments towards COVID-19 (one year later)

Abstract

At the beginning of COVID-19 development, when social vulnerability in the face of the global infectious threat became obvious, we presented target information on a key civilizational issue — the role of ethics in epidemic emergencies. The compliance of RF legislation and the world ethical standards analyzed on based on the study of the humanitarian heritage of pandemic management and a review of existing international documents. Today, one year later, it is time to practically evaluate the effectiveness of the ideology of ethical commitment and objectively comprehend the conflicts that have arisen, their causes and consequences. It should be emphasized that this work is not a so-called “moral lesson learned from COVID-19”, but representation of a real picture of how the centuries-old experience of former epidemics and pandemics was taken into account and the unique truth of the ethical content of management decisions and actions was accepted. It is particularly important to have a possibility to present this article as a continuation of our research topic on the bioethics of pandemics, on the pages of such an authoritative, specialized journal, which fully allows us to preserve the integrity of ideas about the humanitarian essence of anti-epidemic measures. This humanitarian parallel starts from the moment of managing a particular patient with infectious pathology until large-scale measures for eradication vaccine-preventable diseases. A comprehensive and dynamic look at the need to find ways and the nature of overcoming ethical conflicts during the ongoing pandemic of the new coronavirus infection could determine the ethical approach of longterm recommendations in the field of public health protection and ensure the stability of social trust in the future.