Govind Persad
Biographic Data
| ID | 315701 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Govind Persad |
| GIVEN NAMES | Govind |
| FAMILY NAME | Persad |
| SIGNATURE | PERSAD G |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Denver |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-9436-9209 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 21 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 3 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 21 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2009 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Avoiding four fallacies in the fair allocation of influenza countermeasures
BOX The COVID-19 and mpox outbreaks revealed fallacies in the principles and procedures that public health bodies around the world use to determine the distribution of scarce medical resources
Sustainability in the pandemic accord
Careful consideration of ethical principles and their ramifications continues to be central to pandemic prevention, preparedness and response, as reflected in the latest iteration of the pandemic accord
Antiracist Medicine in Colorblind Courts
This Article considers how health professionals’ efforts to combat racial health inequities interact with legal restrictions constraining their ability to consider race. In light of the Roberts Court’s recent invalidation of two university admissions programs, intensifying a “colorblind” judicial shift, the collision between antiracist medicine and colorblind law is a pressing concern. This Article anticipates the implications of this collision a…
Errors in Converting Principles to Protocols
For much of 2021, allocating the scarce supply of Covid‐19 vaccines was the world's most pressing bioethical challenge, and similar challenges may recur for novel therapies and future vaccines. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) identified three fundamental ethical principles to guide the process: maximize benefits, promote justice, and mitigate health inequit…
Covid-19 Vaccine Refusal and Fair Allocation of Scarce Medical Resources
When hospitals face surges of patients with COVID-19, fair allocation of scarce medical resources remains a challenge. Scarcity has at times encompassed not only hospital and intensive care unit beds-often reflecting staffing shortages-but also therapies and intensive treatments. Safe, highly effective COVID-19 vaccines have been free and widely available since mid-2021, yet many Americans remain unvaccinated by choice. Should their decision to f…
Race-Specific, State-Specific Covid-19 Vaccination Rates Adjusted for Age
The authors provide the first age-standardized race/ethnicity-specific, state-specific vaccination rates for the United States. Data encompass all states reporting race/ethnicity-specific vaccinations and reflect vaccinations through mid-October 2021, just before eligibility expanded below age 12. Using indirect age standardization, the authors compare racial/ethnic state vaccination rates with national rates. The results show that white and Blac…
Allocating scarce life-saving resources
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced clinicians, policy-makers and the public to wrestle with stark choices about who should receive potentially life-saving interventions such as ventilators, ICU beds and dialysis machines if demand overwhelms capacity. Many allocation schemes face the question of whether to consider age. We offer two underdiscussed arguments for prioritising younger patients in allocation policies, which are grounded in prudence and…
Sustainability, equal treatment, and temporal neutrality
Addressing distributive justice issues in health policy—ranging from the allocation of health system funding to the allocation of scarce COVID-19 interventions like intensive care unit beds and vaccines—involves the application of ethical principles. Should a principle of sustainability be among them? I suggest that while the value of temporal neutrality underlying such a principle is compelling, it is already implicit in the more basic principle…
Prioritizing the Prevention of Early Deaths during Covid‐19
This letter responds to the essay “When Is Age Choosing Ageist Discrimination?,” by Teneille R. Brown, Leslie P. Francis, and James Tabery, published in the January‐February 2021 issue of the Hastings Center Report
Against Exclusive Survivalism
When life‐saving medical resources are scarce and not everyone can be saved, is the only relevant goal saving the most lives? Or can other factors be considered, at least as tiebreakers, such as how early in life the people we don't save will die or how much future life they are likely to lose? This commentary defends a multiprinciple allocation approach that considers objectives in addition to saving more lives, including preventing early death …
Fair Allocation at Covid-19 Mass Vaccination Sites
On February 26, 2021, the Federal Emergency and Management Agency (FEMA) announced 18 community vaccination centers in major cities capable of administering up to 6000 vaccines daily. 1 Mass vaccination sites like these arrive amid staggering socioeconomic and racial disparities in COVID-19 vaccination.Black and Hispanic people are being vaccinated at less than half the rate of White people, 2 despite being twice as likely to die of COVID-19. 3Th…
Incorporating Health Equity Into Covid-19 Reopening Plans
California has focused on health equity in the state’s COVID-19 reopening plan. The Blueprint for a Safer Economy assigns each of California’s 58 counties into 1 of 4 tiers based on 2 metrics: test positivity rate and adjusted case rate. To advance to the next less-restrictive tier, counties must meet that tier’s test positivity and adjusted case rate thresholds. In addition, counties must have a plan for targeted investments within disadvantaged…
Determining the Number of Refugees to Be Resettled in the United States
Through engagement with key informants and review of ethical theories applicable to refugee policy, this paper examines the ethical and policy considerations that policy-level stakeholders believe should factor into setting the refugee resettlement ceiling. We find that the ceiling traditionally has been influenced by policy goals, underlying values, and practical considerations. These factors map onto several ethical approaches to resettlement. …
An ethical framework for global vaccine allocation
The Fair Priority Model offers a practical way to fulfill pledges to distribute vaccines fairly and equitably
Fair Allocation of Scarce Medical Resources in the Time of Covid-19
Covid-19 is officially a pandemic. It is a novel infection with serious clinical manifestations, including death, and it has reached at least 124 countries and territories. Although the ultimate course and impact of Covid-19 are uncertain, it is not merely possible but likely that the disease will produce enough severe illness to overwhelm health care infrastructure. Emerging viral pandemics “can place extraordinary and sustained demands on publi…
Transparency in Health and Health Care in the United States
Are Medicaid Closed Formularies Unethical
State Medicaid programs have proposed closed formularies to limit spending on drugs. Closed formularies can be justified when they enable spending on other socially valuable aims. However, it is still necessary to justify guidelines informing formulary design, which can be done through a process of decision making that includes the public. This article examines criticisms that Medicaid closed formularies limit deliberation about decisions that af…
Distributive Justice and the Relief of Household Debt
Household debt has been widely discussed among social scientists, policy makers, and activists. Many have questioned the levels of debt households are required to take on, and have made various proposals for assisting households in debt. Yet theorists of distributive justice have left household debt underexamined. This article offers a normative examination of the distributive justice issues presented by proposals to relieve household debt or pro…
The Case for Resource Sensitivity
When Dr. Hortense screens her patients in Chicago for cervical dysplasia and cancer, she conducts a pelvic exam, takes a sample of cervical cells, and sends them for Pap cytology and human papilloma virus DNA co‐testing. But when she conducts cervical cancer screening in Botswana, she employs a much simpler diagnostic strategy. She applies acetic acid to highlight precancerous lesions and visually inspects the cervix—a technique known as the VIA …
What Is the Relevance of Procedural Fairness to Making Determinations about Medical Evidence
Approaches relying on fair procedures rather than substantive principles have been proposed for answering dilemmas in medical ethics and health policy. These dilemmas generally involve two questions: the epistemological (factual) question of which benefits an intervention will have, and the ethical (value) question of how to distribute those benefits. This article focuses on the potential of fair procedures to help address epistemological and fac…
Principles for allocation of scarce medical interventions
Race-Specific, State-Specific Covid-19 Vaccination Rates Adjusted for Age
The authors provide the first age-standardized race/ethnicity-specific, state-specific vaccination rates for the United States. Data encompass all states reporting race/ethnicity-specific vaccinations and reflect vaccinations through mid-October 2021, just before eligibility expanded below age 12. Using indirect age standardization, the authors compare racial/ethnic state vaccination rates with national rates. The results show that white and Blac…
Incorporating Health Equity Into Covid-19 Reopening Plans
California has focused on health equity in the state’s COVID-19 reopening plan. The Blueprint for a Safer Economy assigns each of California’s 58 counties into 1 of 4 tiers based on 2 metrics: test positivity rate and adjusted case rate. To advance to the next less-restrictive tier, counties must meet that tier’s test positivity and adjusted case rate thresholds. In addition, counties must have a plan for targeted investments within disadvantaged…
Determining the Number of Refugees to Be Resettled in the United States
Through engagement with key informants and review of ethical theories applicable to refugee policy, this paper examines the ethical and policy considerations that policy-level stakeholders believe should factor into setting the refugee resettlement ceiling. We find that the ceiling traditionally has been influenced by policy goals, underlying values, and practical considerations. These factors map onto several ethical approaches to resettlement. …
Principles for allocation of scarce medical interventions
The Case for Resource Sensitivity
When Dr. Hortense screens her patients in Chicago for cervical dysplasia and cancer, she conducts a pelvic exam, takes a sample of cervical cells, and sends them for Pap cytology and human papilloma virus DNA co‐testing. But when she conducts cervical cancer screening in Botswana, she employs a much simpler diagnostic strategy. She applies acetic acid to highlight precancerous lesions and visually inspects the cervix—a technique known as the VIA …
What Is the Relevance of Procedural Fairness to Making Determinations about Medical Evidence
Approaches relying on fair procedures rather than substantive principles have been proposed for answering dilemmas in medical ethics and health policy. These dilemmas generally involve two questions: the epistemological (factual) question of which benefits an intervention will have, and the ethical (value) question of how to distribute those benefits. This article focuses on the potential of fair procedures to help address epistemological and fac…
Distributive Justice and the Relief of Household Debt
Household debt has been widely discussed among social scientists, policy makers, and activists. Many have questioned the levels of debt households are required to take on, and have made various proposals for assisting households in debt. Yet theorists of distributive justice have left household debt underexamined. This article offers a normative examination of the distributive justice issues presented by proposals to relieve household debt or pro…
Transparency in Health and Health Care in the United States
Are Medicaid Closed Formularies Unethical
State Medicaid programs have proposed closed formularies to limit spending on drugs. Closed formularies can be justified when they enable spending on other socially valuable aims. However, it is still necessary to justify guidelines informing formulary design, which can be done through a process of decision making that includes the public. This article examines criticisms that Medicaid closed formularies limit deliberation about decisions that af…
An ethical framework for global vaccine allocation
The Fair Priority Model offers a practical way to fulfill pledges to distribute vaccines fairly and equitably
Fair Allocation of Scarce Medical Resources in the Time of Covid-19
Covid-19 is officially a pandemic. It is a novel infection with serious clinical manifestations, including death, and it has reached at least 124 countries and territories. Although the ultimate course and impact of Covid-19 are uncertain, it is not merely possible but likely that the disease will produce enough severe illness to overwhelm health care infrastructure. Emerging viral pandemics “can place extraordinary and sustained demands on publi…
Allocating scarce life-saving resources
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced clinicians, policy-makers and the public to wrestle with stark choices about who should receive potentially life-saving interventions such as ventilators, ICU beds and dialysis machines if demand overwhelms capacity. Many allocation schemes face the question of whether to consider age. We offer two underdiscussed arguments for prioritising younger patients in allocation policies, which are grounded in prudence and…
Sustainability, equal treatment, and temporal neutrality
Addressing distributive justice issues in health policy—ranging from the allocation of health system funding to the allocation of scarce COVID-19 interventions like intensive care unit beds and vaccines—involves the application of ethical principles. Should a principle of sustainability be among them? I suggest that while the value of temporal neutrality underlying such a principle is compelling, it is already implicit in the more basic principle…
Prioritizing the Prevention of Early Deaths during Covid‐19
This letter responds to the essay “When Is Age Choosing Ageist Discrimination?,” by Teneille R. Brown, Leslie P. Francis, and James Tabery, published in the January‐February 2021 issue of the Hastings Center Report
Against Exclusive Survivalism
When life‐saving medical resources are scarce and not everyone can be saved, is the only relevant goal saving the most lives? Or can other factors be considered, at least as tiebreakers, such as how early in life the people we don't save will die or how much future life they are likely to lose? This commentary defends a multiprinciple allocation approach that considers objectives in addition to saving more lives, including preventing early death …
Fair Allocation at Covid-19 Mass Vaccination Sites
On February 26, 2021, the Federal Emergency and Management Agency (FEMA) announced 18 community vaccination centers in major cities capable of administering up to 6000 vaccines daily. 1 Mass vaccination sites like these arrive amid staggering socioeconomic and racial disparities in COVID-19 vaccination.Black and Hispanic people are being vaccinated at less than half the rate of White people, 2 despite being twice as likely to die of COVID-19. 3Th…
Incorporating Health Equity Into Covid-19 Reopening Plans
California has focused on health equity in the state’s COVID-19 reopening plan. The Blueprint for a Safer Economy assigns each of California’s 58 counties into 1 of 4 tiers based on 2 metrics: test positivity rate and adjusted case rate. To advance to the next less-restrictive tier, counties must meet that tier’s test positivity and adjusted case rate thresholds. In addition, counties must have a plan for targeted investments within disadvantaged…
Determining the Number of Refugees to Be Resettled in the United States
Through engagement with key informants and review of ethical theories applicable to refugee policy, this paper examines the ethical and policy considerations that policy-level stakeholders believe should factor into setting the refugee resettlement ceiling. We find that the ceiling traditionally has been influenced by policy goals, underlying values, and practical considerations. These factors map onto several ethical approaches to resettlement. …
Errors in Converting Principles to Protocols
For much of 2021, allocating the scarce supply of Covid‐19 vaccines was the world's most pressing bioethical challenge, and similar challenges may recur for novel therapies and future vaccines. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) identified three fundamental ethical principles to guide the process: maximize benefits, promote justice, and mitigate health inequit…
Covid-19 Vaccine Refusal and Fair Allocation of Scarce Medical Resources
When hospitals face surges of patients with COVID-19, fair allocation of scarce medical resources remains a challenge. Scarcity has at times encompassed not only hospital and intensive care unit beds-often reflecting staffing shortages-but also therapies and intensive treatments. Safe, highly effective COVID-19 vaccines have been free and widely available since mid-2021, yet many Americans remain unvaccinated by choice. Should their decision to f…
Race-Specific, State-Specific Covid-19 Vaccination Rates Adjusted for Age
The authors provide the first age-standardized race/ethnicity-specific, state-specific vaccination rates for the United States. Data encompass all states reporting race/ethnicity-specific vaccinations and reflect vaccinations through mid-October 2021, just before eligibility expanded below age 12. Using indirect age standardization, the authors compare racial/ethnic state vaccination rates with national rates. The results show that white and Blac…
Sustainability in the pandemic accord
Careful consideration of ethical principles and their ramifications continues to be central to pandemic prevention, preparedness and response, as reflected in the latest iteration of the pandemic accord
Antiracist Medicine in Colorblind Courts
This Article considers how health professionals’ efforts to combat racial health inequities interact with legal restrictions constraining their ability to consider race. In light of the Roberts Court’s recent invalidation of two university admissions programs, intensifying a “colorblind” judicial shift, the collision between antiracist medicine and colorblind law is a pressing concern. This Article anticipates the implications of this collision a…
Avoiding four fallacies in the fair allocation of influenza countermeasures
BOX The COVID-19 and mpox outbreaks revealed fallacies in the principles and procedures that public health bodies around the world use to determine the distribution of scarce medical resources
Medicine (15 works) · Political science (15 works) · Law (13 works) · Business (9 works) · Economics (9 works) · Health Systems, Economic Evaluations, Quality of Life (8 works) · Actuarial science (7 works) · Health care (7 works) · Computer Science (6 works) · Healthcare cost, quality, practices (6 works)