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COVID-19 vaccine passports or certification: a good or bad idea?

WHO World Immunisation Week 2021 campaign poster depicting a woman carrying her child. The poster also portrays this year's theme - "Vaccines bring us closer".

World Immunisation Week 2021

To mark World Immunisation Week 2021 from 24 to 30 April, the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) Vaccine Centre is hosting a series of webinars. The theme this year is ‘Vaccines Bring Us Closer’. Each day of the week we focus on an important area of vaccine research, science and debate bringing together experts in the field. We end the week with the Vaccine Centre Annual Lecture.  

In this event, our speakers will focus on the ethical, logistical and technical issues around vaccine passports. Professor James Wilson will discuss "public health ethics and vaccine passports" and Dr Edgar Whitley will explore "the challenges of implementing COVID-19 vaccine passports". 

This session will be chaired by Dr Tracey Chantler from the Vaccine Centre Steering Group.  

Speakers

Professor James Wilson, UCL

James Wilson is a Professor of Philosophy at UCL, where he is also co-director of the Health Humanities Centre. His research uses philosophy to help resolve practical problems, and also uses practical problems to investigate gaps and weaknesses in existing philosophical theories. He has published widely on public health ethics and health policy, and also on the ownership and governance of ideas and information. His book Philosophy for Public Health and Public Policy: Beyond the Neglectful State will be published in September 2021 by Oxford University Press. Among other advisory roles, he is a member of the National Data Guardian’s Panel, of the Faculty of Public Health’s Ethics Committee, and was a member of the Ethics Advisory Group for the NHS Covid-19 App. He is a co-investigator for the UK Pandemic Ethics Accelerator, which brings together a range of stakeholders to rapidly integrate ethical thinking into pandemic policy-making. 

Dr Edgar Whitley, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)

Edgar has been studying digital identity systems for over 15 years at the London School of Economics.  He is co-chair of the Privacy and Consumer Advisory Group to the Government Digital Service and GOV.UK.  He is also an Advisory Group member for the Ada Lovelace Institute independent review of the governance of biometric data and contributed to their rapid expert review on vaccine status certification.  Edgar has also advised governments in Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, India, Jamaica, Japan and Mexico about the political, technological and social challenges of effective identity policies.

 

World Immunisation Week 2021 banner

Other events taking place around this year's World Immunisation Week  

LSHTM Viral

Season 3 of the LSHTM Viral podcast is exploring vaccines and vaccinations in a COVID-19 world, from ingredients to manufacturing, and through to the realities of distribution to a global population. In each episode our experts also answer the most pressing questions from the public on the COVID-19 vaccines, so send your questions to comms@lshtm.ac.uk. LSHTM Viral is Spotify’s 13th most popular science podcast in the UK. Subscribe now: AnchorApple PodcastsBreakerCastboxGoogle PodcastsOvercastPocket CastsRadioPublicSpotifyStitcher.


  • Please note that the time listed is British Summer Time (BST)
  • Please note that the recording link will be listed on this page when available

Admission

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Follow webinar link. Free and open to all. No registration required.

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