{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,11,12]],"date-time":"2026-11-12T18:29:18Z","timestamp":1794508158278,"version":"4.9.1"},"reference-count":34,"publisher":"Springer Science and Business Media LLC","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,11,15]],"date-time":"2024-11-15T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1731628800000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,11,15]],"date-time":"2024-11-15T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1731628800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"}],"funder":[{"name":"K\u00e4the-Zingg-Schwichtenberg-Fund of the Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences","award":["KZS 02\/20"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["KZS 02\/20"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["link.springer.com"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["BMC Med Ethics"],"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title><jats:sec>\n                <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                <jats:p>The COVID-19 pandemic posed many unprecedented challenges to health care systems and public health efforts worldwide. Policy making and science were deeply intertwined, in particular with regard to the justification of health policy measures. In this context, ethical considerations were often at the core of decision-making trade-offs. However, not much is known about the actual ethical challenges encountered by policy makers and scientists involved in policy advice. With this study, we therefore aim to explore the ethical challenges during COVID-19-related political decision-making in Switzerland as perceived by policy makers and scientists involved in policy making. We also explore the role ethics advice had during the pandemic response and what can be learned for future public health crises.<\/jats:p>\n              <\/jats:sec><jats:sec>\n                <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                <jats:p>We conducted thirteen qualitative expert interviews with policy makers and scientists involved in decision-making on COVID-19 policy responses in Switzerland on the regional and national level. We used inductive content analysis to analyse the interviews.<\/jats:p>\n              <\/jats:sec><jats:sec>\n                <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                <jats:p>Among the multitude of ethical challenges highlighted, interviewees perceived making trade-offs between the common good vs. the individual good and between economic welfare vs. health of the population, as well as proportionality of the policy measures, and the capacity of the public to accept uncertainty as central. Interviewees had diverging opinions on whether ethical considerations were sufficiently raised and discussed on the Swiss policy level during the COVID-19 pandemic. Among the reasons why ethics was not sufficiently discussed, they mentioned a lack of time in the fast-paced dynamic of the pandemic, ethics as a complex subject area, the interconnectedness between ethics and law, too much focus on few topics (mostly on vaccination-related ethical questions), and power relationships, such as dominance of medical professionals over ethicists. They evaluated ethics support to have been adequately present in the decision-making process, but wished for ethics training, involvement of the public in the discourse and for accompanying communication to build trust among the population for the future.<\/jats:p>\n              <\/jats:sec><jats:sec>\n                <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                <jats:p>The study provides empirical insights into the ethical considerations of COVID-19 policy making in practice in Switzerland. It can help to develop ethics assistance for future crises and inform ethical health policy and decision-making not only in Switzerland, but also in other countries.<\/jats:p>\n              <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1186\/s12910-024-01132-x","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,11,15]],"date-time":"2024-11-15T02:03:30Z","timestamp":1731636210000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["\u201cI think all of us should have [\u2026] much better training in ethics.\u201d Ethical challenges in policy making during the COVID-19 pandemic: Results from an interview study with Swiss policy makers and scientists"],"prefix":"10.1186","volume":"25","author":[{"given":"Caroline","family":"Brall","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Felix","family":"Gille","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Caroline","family":"Schlaufer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Rouven","family":"Porz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ralf J.","family":"Jox","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,11,15]]},"reference":[{"issue":"2","key":"1132_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"293","DOI":"10.1002\/epa2.1094","volume":"6","author":"F Sager","year":"2020","unstructured":"Sager F, Mavrot C. 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The invitation letter informed participants about the aims and procedures of the interview study, as well as their rights: It highlighted that they have the choice whether to participate in the study or not, that they have the right to withdraw at any time without specifying reasons and without any consequences. It emphasized that the interviews will be transcribed in a de-identified manner, stored safely in an encrypted form and reported in an anonymous way. Only the responsible investigators will have access to the original interview transcript under strictly observed rules of confidentiality. De-identified quotations of the interview might be used for scientific publications or conference presentations. Lastly, interviewees were informed that by participating in the interview, they give their informed consent for participation. In the beginning of the interviews, any open questions were addressed, and the interviewees\u2019 verbal consent was obtained for recording the interview.","order":2,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Ethics approval and consent to participate"}},{"value":"Not applicable.","order":3,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Consent for publication"}},{"value":"The authors declare no competing interests.","order":4,"name":"Ethics","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Competing interests"}}],"article-number":"129"}}