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Ethics of Vaccines: Project Overview
Recognizing
the gap in bioethics research and policy analysis in the vaccines field, the Penn Center
for Bioethics of the University
of Pennsylvania initiated
development and planning during early 2005 for an Ethics of Vaccines
Project.
The
project was formally launched in
December 2005 with seed funding from the Penn Provost's Interdisciplinary
Seminar Fund and Penn Center for AIDS Research (CFAR).
A working
group was formed, drawn from across the Penn community including the School of
Medicine, the Law School, Wharton, the Annenberg School, and a number of life
science disciplines, as well leaders from outside Penn from the public health
community, the media, collaborating faculty at Columbia and Johns Hopkins, as
well as from The Wistar Institute and major vaccine makers.
The Ethics
of Vaccines Project works to:
-
identify
and articulate emerging issues affecting the vaccine enterprise overall,
-
engage
and provide training for a cadre of informed, thoughtful spokespersons for
vaccines across diverse fields ranging from law and public policy, vaccine
manufacturing, public health, the media and beyond through open dialogue and
focused examination of vaccine issues,
-
serve
as an incubator of new projects which will focus on specific vaccines and
ethical/policy issues surrounding them (e.g. HPV vaccine), and new academic
coursework across disciplines around these issues,
-
use
the approaches above to develop and communicate/advocate a practical ethics and
values framework to inform and guide the entire vaccine life cycle.
In late 2006, the Penn Center
for Bioethics partnered with The Wistar
Institute,
one of the pioneers in vaccines research and development, to strengthen the
project team. Wistar president and CEO Russel E. Kaufman, M.D. commented, "The
Wistar Institute's proud tradition of leadership in basic research has produced
some of the most dramatically effective vaccines in history. Wistar is the
perfect partner for Penn's Center for Bioethics to produce a thoughtful and
actionable ethical framework guiding the entire vaccine life cycle."
Also in
2006, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), the #1 ranked children's hospital
in the nation, and its Vaccines
Education Center
became a partner, significantly strengthening
the leadership team. Dr. Paul Offit, head of Infectious Diseases at CHOP and a
founding member of the project, commented, "As a number of new vaccines are
entering public health and clinical practice, it is more important than ever to
have clear, accurate information about vaccines and their critical role in
public health. The Ethics of Vaccines Project is making an important
contribution to clear thinking about vaccine policy, safety and ethical issues,
and by doing so, helping parents, patients, clinicians and the public health professionals
make informed choices and use vaccines more effectively."
Leveraging
three years of program development in the continuing Ethics of Vaccines
Project, the Center for Bioethics, Wistar and CHOP are leading formation of a Center for Vaccine Ethics and Policy. 
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