Fair Rationing: How to Allocate Resources during a Pandemic
A Bioethics Backgrounder from The Hastings Center

September 12, 2006
Garrison, N.Y.

A severe influenza pandemic, now thought to be unavoidable in the long term, will also make rationing unavoidable - not only of vaccines and antiviral medications, but possibly also of hospital beds, ventilators, and other health care resources. Who should receive these resources and how to prepare for these difficult decisions is the subject of a Bioethics Backgrounder presented by The Hastings Center at a Senate briefing on September 12 on pandemic preparedness.

The backgrounder describes the steps policy makers can take now to develop pandemic plans that are fair and that can provide ethical guidance to physicians and other first responders. It also features an extensive, annotated list of resources for journalists covering this issue.

The briefing, sponsored by Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Bioterrorism and Public Health Preparedness, provided insights from American religious traditions on resource allocation during a pandemic.

A free copy of the backgrounder, "Flu Pandemic and the Fair Allocation of Scarce Life-Saving Resources: How Can We Make the Hardest of Choices?" can be downloaded here.

For media calls on this issue, contact Nancy Berlinger, Associate for Religious Studies, at 845-424-4040 ext. 210 or berlingern@thehastingscenter.org.