Ethical Issues Involving the Development of COVID-19 Vaccines: Role of Vaccine Development, Clinical Trials, and Speed of Peer Review in Dissuading Public Vaccine Hesitancy

Over 60% of the population in the United States received the SARS-Co-V-Type 2 mRNA vaccine, manufactured by Pfizer-BioNTech and by Moderna. The pace at which these mRNA vaccines have been developed may be alarming to the public when compared to timelines for development of traditional vaccines for other diseases, eliciting issues of mistrust. Ethical issues arise regarding the pace of vaccine development and have been described and highlighted by the media. In addition, testing and validation of basic science and clinical findings, combined with potential side effects of the mRNA vaccines have contributed to public mistrust of this vaccine development platform. The following paper focuses on the current ethical concerns involved with vaccine development and identifies the ethical concerns that mitigate the role of public vaccine hesitancy and effort to minimize the role of such issues. As the number of vaccinated people increase, the likelihood of herd immunity increases as well. The following paper addresses some of the scientific concerns cited by the public in their hesitancy to obtain the mRNA vaccines.