SE Oakland News

Jeffrey Byrnes, a medical ethicist and assistant professor of philosophy at Grand State Valley University in Allendale Charter Township, answered some key questions about the COVID-19 vaccine and who has priority, which was published in Bridge Michigan.

Byrnes said that administering the vaccine justly should be the state's top priority. He adds that public trust is crucial amid this COVID-19 pandemic; distrust will only cause confusion.

"Maximize the benefits," Byrnes told Bridge Michigan. "Given that we cannot vaccinate everyone at once, how do we allocate the first doses to get maximal benefit to all the people? How do we administer this vaccine in a way that both treats people fairly and ensures an equitable result? How to make allocation decisions and carry out vaccinations in a way that earns public trust and establishes a sense of community ownership of the process? We must show the public what we are doing."

Byrnes says the state is on a mission to protect Michiganders, maintaining the position that the vaccine will considerably benefit its citizens. He also acknowledges that the most important responsibility for the state is to win the trust of its minority community. 

"The state absolutely has an ethical obligation to protect its citizens," Byrnes said, according to Bridge Michigan. "Yet the state cannot be falsely naive about the history of our present situation. The state has in its possession a vaccine that it believes will benefit its minority populations. Yet the state must acknowledge that minority populations may not simply take the state’s word on that. When the state’s minority populations have had time to review the evidence and have seen the vaccine in their communities, then they can choose to be vaccinated, if they feel comfortable doing so."

Byrnes explained that because the current vaccine stock is inadequate, people who have a greater chance of contracting the virus and suffering serious consequences will obtain the vaccine first. After those people have been taken care of, it will take some time to vaccinate every resident of Michigan.

"If we had the necessary quantity of vaccine and the capacity, then we would distribute it all simultaneously," Byrnes told Bridge Michigan. "Given that the supply is limited, we are forced to make difficult decisions about the order of distribution. Comparing the secondary benefits to the community of vaccinating a teacher and a power line worker cannot be undertaken in the realm of ethics alone. It requires input from experts in fields like statistics or data science who can model likely benefit models."

Byrnes said that the staff of prisons and homeless shelters will be covered in Phase 1B. Phase 1A includes frontline workers and health care professionals. The general population will receive the vaccines at a later date. 

"I think what might prompt the question is the fact that staff of homeless shelters and prisons are identified specifically as prioritized in Phase 1B, while residents of those institutions will receive vaccination along with the broader population," Byrnes said, according to Bridge Michigan. "From my understanding of the epidemiology, there is reason to think that vaccinating the staff is an effective use of a small number of vaccines — largely because they have contact with people on the outside and would likely bring the virus in with them."