The ethics of vaccines during COVID-19: a global public health approach through Utilitarianism

Utilitarianism is an ethical theory that advocates for the greatest good concerning the greatest number of people. It is broken down into two branches: Act Utilitarianism and Rule Utilitarianism. Act Utilitarianism proposes that people should always act in ways that will achieve the greatest good or happiness for the majority involved. Rule Utilitarianism follows the same principle but proposes that people should follow the established rules, as prescribed by authorities, to achieve greater outcomes. While these philosophical frameworks are not often discussed in the context of global public health, they still influence and provide a rationale as to why people should be aware of health issues that transcend nation-state borders. Utilizing COVID-19 as a case study, this chapter unpacks a Utilitarian perspective in relation to vaccine access, rationales for vaccination, and the distribution of vaccines within Australia, to develop a cohesive framework for vaccine rollouts in developing nations. The further commentary reflects the promotion of vaccines as acting in one's best self-interest and the abuses of religiosity, which both contribute to vaccine hesitancy and misinformation on COVID-19. These occur in resistance to a Utilitarian approach to addressing pandemics as a global health issue. The authors of this chapter posit that when addressing COVID-19, a Rule Utilitarianism approach is needed to overcome misinformation and vaccine hesitancy, with improvements to health literacy, when creating a uniform approach to global public health issues.