#1 – Natalie Kofler & Alex Pearlman - COVID-19 Immunity Passports and DIY Vaccines

Two leading experts on bioethics and DIYbio join us to discuss the complex issues surrounding COVID-19 immunity passports and “DIY” vaccines.

Genetic Engineering and Society Center

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Despite limited scientific data, governments around the world are exploring COVID-19 immunity passport programs. At the same time, groups have emerged who have developed, promoted, and tested on themselves and others, “DIY” COVID-19 vaccines; potentially enabling more individuals to attain immunity passports; while the rest of the world waits for an approved vaccine. How do we respond, and what about ethics and equity issues?

Guest Speakers

Dr. Natalie Kofler (@nataliekofler) is the founding director of Editing Nature - a global initiative to steer responsible development and deployment of genetic technologies. She is a leading voice in technology ethics, governance, and scientific justice.

Alex Pearlman (@lexikon1) is an award-winning journalist and a bioethicist, reporting on emerging issues in science, and technology. Alex is also a Research Affiliate with the Community Biotechnology Initiative at the MIT Media Lab where she studies the intersection of the community biology movement with issues in ethics and policy.

Links & Resources

Natalie Kofler and Françoise Baylis "Ten reasons why immunity passports are a bad idea" Nature 581, 379-381 (2020)
Ailsa Chang "Bioethicist: 'Immunity Passports' Could Do More Harm Than Good'" NPR's All Things Considered, featuring Natalie Kofler, May 29, 2020
Antonio Regalado "Some scientists are taking a DIY coronavirus vaccine, and nobody knows if it’s legal or if it works" MIT Technology Review, July 29, 2020

Additional recommended reading:

Ed Yong, "Immunology Is Where Intuition Goes to Die" The Atlantic, Aug. 5, 2020

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