One Health, Vaccines and Ebola: The Opportunities for Shared Benefits

Benjamin Capps, Zohar Lederman

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

37 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The 2013 Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa, as of writing, is declining in reported human cases and mortalities. The resulting devastation caused highlights how health systems, in particular in West Africa, and in terms of global pandemic planning, are ill prepared to react to zoonotic pathogens. In this paper we propose One Health as a strategy to prevent zoonotic outbreaks as a shared goal: that human and Great Ape vaccine trials could benefit both species. Only recently have two phase 2/3 Ebola human vaccine trials been started in West Africa. This paper argues for a conceptual change in pandemic preparedness. We first discuss the ethics of One Health. Next, we focus on the current Ebola outbreak and defines its victims. Third, we present the notion of a ‘shared benefit’ approach, grounded in One Health, and argue for the vaccination of wild apes in order to protect both apes and humans. We believe that a creation of such inter-species immunity is an exemplar of One Health, and that it is worth pursuing as a coextensive public health approach.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1011-1032
Number of pages22
JournalJournal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics
Volume28
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 1 2015

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2015, Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.

ASJC Scopus Subject Areas

  • Environmental Chemistry
  • History
  • Agricultural and Biological Sciences (miscellaneous)
  • General Environmental Science

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