Ethical issues with vaccines and monoclonal antibodies

Question 1

Animals

Answer 1

-All vaccines are tested on animals before they can move on to human trials
-Animal-based substances are sometimes used in the production of vaccines

Question 2

Human testing

Answer 2

-small risk (the person being tested on may actually suffer from symptoms of the disease or other, unpredicted side-effects)
-Human volunteers are often paid to take part in vaccine trials. Ethical issues can arise if these volunteers feel pressured into doing this (and potentially being harmed in the process due to the reasons described above) because of their financial status (i.e. people who are struggling financially may be more likely to volunteer themselves
-Volunteers may be at higher risk of contracting the disease if they think the trial vaccine will fully protect them but it actually doesn’t

Question 3

Monoclonal antibodies

Answer 3

-Ethical issues around monoclonal antibody therapies often revolve around animal rights issues:
-New monoclonal antibody therapies are often tested on animals before they can move onto human trials but some people think animal testing is unethical
-Currently, animals are used to produce the cells from which the monoclonal antibodies are produced but some people think this is an unethical use of animals

Question 4

Epidemics

Answer 4

-Which countries are given the vaccines first
-Who reciewsx the vaccines first