COVID-19 Pandemic and Public Health Ethics in Japan

Public health ethics is a discipline dealing with ethical issues relating to public health. As a branch of medical ethics, it also deals with clinical and research ethics. The core issue of public health ethics is to balance the conflict between individual liberty and the public good. Because of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, deliberation based on public health ethics is required to reduce social disparities and increase community cohesion. This study presents three public health ethics challenges. The first is to introduce an egalitarian liberal approach to public health concerning social and economic issues experienced by vulnerable populations both domestically and globally. I then propose alternative and compensatory public health policies that serve the principles of justice. Second, public health ethics must ensure procedural justice in all public health policy decisions. For example, when deciding to implement public health policies, including restrictions on individual liberties, the decision making process must be open to the public. Third, citizens and students must be educated on public health ethics. The public must be provided with an open forum to deliberate on ethical issues related to public health as well as the appropriate training to do so.