Sydney Health Ethics, School of Public Health, University of Sydney, Edward Ford Building, A27 Fisher Rd, Camperdown, New South Wales, 2006, Australia.
School of Health Studies & Rotman Institute of Philosophy, Western University, 1151 Richmond Street, London, Ontario, N6A 3K7, Canada.
J Bioeth Inq. 2023 Dec;20(4):667-672. doi: 10.1007/s11673-023-10251-w. Epub 2023 Jul 13.
South Africa shared with the world the warning of a new strain of SARS-CoV2, Omicron, in November 2021. As a result, many high-income countries (HICs) instituted complete travel bans on persons leaving South Africa and other neighbouring countries. These bans were unnecessary from a scientific standpoint, and they ran counter to the International Health Regulations. In short, South Africa was penalized for sharing data. Data sharing during pandemics is commonly justified by appeals to solidarity. In this paper, we argue that solidarity is, at best, an aspirational ideal to work toward but that it cannot ground an obligation to share data. Instead, low-and-middle income countries (LIMCs) should be guided by the principle of reciprocity, which states that we ought to return good for good received. Reciprocity is necessarily a conditional principle. LMICs, we argue, should only share data during future pandemics on the condition that HICs provide enforceable assurances that the benefits of data sharing will be equitably distributed and that LMICs won't be penalized for sharing information.
南非于 2021 年 11 月向世界发出了 SARS-CoV2 的新型奥密克戎毒株的警告。因此，许多高收入国家（HICs）对离开南非和其他邻国的人实施了全面旅行禁令。从科学角度来看，这些禁令是不必要的，也违反了《国际卫生条例》。简而言之，南非因分享数据而受到惩罚。在大流行期间，数据共享通常以团结为理由。在本文中，我们认为，团结充其量只是一个努力实现的理想目标，但不能作为分享数据的义务的基础。相反，中低收入国家（LIMCs）应该以互惠原则为指导，即我们应该以德报德。互惠原则必然是有条件的原则。我们认为，LMICs 只有在 HICs 提供可执行的保证，即数据共享的利益将公平分配，并且 LMICs 不会因共享信息而受到惩罚的情况下，才应在未来的大流行期间共享数据。
