Ethical issues associated with the use of vaccines and monoclonal…

The idea

Ethical questions are marked on reasoned argument, not on opinion. For vaccines, production and testing usually involve animals; human trials expose volunteers to risk and raise the question of who receives the vaccine and who receives the control treatment; rare side effects fall on individuals while the benefit is to the whole population; compulsory vaccination sets public health against personal choice; and limited supplies have to be distributed between wealthy and poorer countries. For monoclonal antibodies, mice are used to produce the cells, there have been severe adverse reactions in some clinical trials, seriously ill patients may find it hard to give genuinely informed consent, and the cost limits who can be treated.

What earns the marks

• Identifying a specific ethical issue, such as the use of animals in producing or testing the treatment.
• The point that it is not ethical to withhold an effective treatment, so a control group receives an existing drug rather than a placebo if a treatment already exists.
• A risk-benefit argument, such as rare side effects in individuals set against protection of the population.
• An issue of consent, autonomy or fair distribution, such as compulsory vaccination or limited vaccine supply.
• Reaching a justified conclusion that refers to the context in the question.

Common mistakes and how to put them right

• Writing personal opinion with no biological reasoning behind it.

• Stating 'it is wrong to test on animals' without saying what the testing is for or what the alternative would be.

• Offering practical or economic points, such as storage temperature, as ethical issues.

• Arguing only one side when the question expects a judgement to be justified.

• Claiming that a placebo is always used in a drug trial, forgetting that an existing treatment is used as a control if withholding it would be unethical.

Exam tips

• Anchor every point in the context: name the disease, the treatment and the people affected.
• If the command word is discuss, give at least one point on each side and then a conclusion.
• Where a trial has no placebo group, say explicitly that withholding an effective treatment from ill patients would be unethical.