Epidemic Ethics: Governance, Ethics, and the ACT Accelerator

Epidemic Ethics: Governance, Ethics, and the ACT Accelerator
Description
The Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator is a global collaborative effort to accelerate the development, production, and equitable access to COVID-19 tests, therapies, and vaccines (the latter being pursued through its COVAX pillar). Key to accomplishing its mission is establishing which organizations are playing which roles in ACT-A decision-making and ensuring such decision-making is informed by a robust ethical decision-making framework. This seminar will explore the challenges and opportunities related to the governance and ethics of the ACT Accelerator.
Chair

  • Prof Ross Upshur, Head, Division of Clinical Public Health, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Canada
    Panel:
  • Prof Suerie Moon, Co-Director, Global Health Centre, Professor of Practice, Interdisciplinary Programmes and International Relations/Political Science, The Graduate Institute Geneva, Switzerland
  • Dr Owen Schaefer, Assistant Professor, Centre for Biomedical Ethics, National University of Singapore, Singapore

The following questions will form the basis of the seminar’s panel discussion. Seminar attendees are invited to submit questions in advance of the seminar when they register or during the live discussion.

  • The ACT Accelerator is a ‘framework for collaboration’, not a new organization or decision-making body. What ethics and governance challenges has this raised? How might these challenges be addressed?
  • Three principles are embedded in the ACT Accelerator’s founding mission statement: participation, transparency, and accountability. Are these principles sufficient to guide the work of the ACT Accelerator? To what extent has the ACT Accelerator been able to realize these principles in its work?
  • As a global collaborative effort, to what degree has the ACT Accelerator been able to incorporate and track the interests of key stakeholders, like the interests of the governments and people in low- and -middle-income countries and civil society organizations?