Back to WHAT? The role of research ethics in pandemic times

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic creates an unprecedented threatening situation worldwide with an urgent need for critical reflection and new knowledge production, but also a need for imminent action despite prevailing knowledge gaps and multilevel uncertainty. With regard to the role of research ethics in these pandemic times some argue in favor of exceptionalism, others, including the authors of this paper, emphasize the urgent need to remain committed to core ethical principles and fundamental human rights obligations all reflected in research regulations and guidelines carefully crafted over time. In this paper we disentangle some of the arguments put forward in the ongoing debate about Covid-19 human challenge studies (CHIs) and the concomitant role of health-related research ethics in pandemic times. We suggest it might be helpful to think through a lens differentiating between risk, strict uncertainty and ignorance. We provide some examples of lessons learned by harm done in the name of research in the past and discuss the relevance of this legacy in the current situation.

Accessibility to Non-COVID Health Services in the World During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Review

“…In addition, attention was drawn to the lowered standard of reviewing published research. Research papers were published very quickly, and after a time, some of them were withdrawn due to doubts about the data used ( 65 ). Withdrawn research papers pose a risk due to insufficient marking, indicating withdrawal or access to copies on social media and pirated open access sites ( 66 ).…”

Challenges and proposed solutions in making clinical research on COVID-19 ethical: a status quo analysis across German research ethics committees

“…Especially in pandemic times, it is important to gain evidence-based knowledge, because new interventions will be used in short time on the general public. The problems contained in research exceptionalism are in-depth discussed elsewhere [ 4 , 14 , 15 ], among these are too many different small studies with the same research question, insufficient reporting and poor study design. Our findings indicate that this is not just a theoretical problem and there might be a tendency among researchers to lower scientific standards because of time pressure.…”

COVID-19 and the ethics of human challenge trials

“…The first three papers in the current issue highlight some of the ethical questions triggered by COVID-19. Solbakk et al (2021) advance arguments against controlled human infection studies making a case for upholding well-established research ethics guidelines, even under exceptional pandemic circumstances. Da Silva et al (2021) look at problems in academic publishing such as keeping up the rigor of peer review and the quality of editorial decision making when dealing with a significantly increased manuscript flow and facing the urgency to work faster rather than slower.…”

“…This editorial focuses on the first paper by Solbakk et al (2021) about human challenge trials, i.e., experiments where human participants are intentionally exposed to pathogens. The pandemic has triggered a debate about these studies with advocates and opponents advancing a variety of arguments (see ibid.…”

“…Which research ethics norms are violated by challenge trials? Solbakk et al (2021) claim challenge trials would contravene the norm that societal interests should yield to those of individuals. Is such a norm violation unavoidable though?…”