Vol , Issue 
                
                Date of Publication: June 14, 2022
            
                             DOI: https://doi.org/10.20529/IJME.2022.042
                            
                     
        
             
            
            Views
            , PDF Downloads:
            
         
         Letters  
                
        In search of ethical pandemic technology
        
        
        
            
                                        
                            Sohini  Banerjee                        
                        
                                                
                            KS Roshan Menon                        
                        
                                    
         
        
            Abstract:
             The duration of the pandemic over the last two years has witnessed the steering of multiple technological interventions by governments. These interventions — ranging from contact tracing applications to vaccine certificates — have been developed in the specific context of the pandemic, and were meant to address its unique requirements. This family of technological interventions may be termed “pandemic technology” — having diverse uses such as preventing the transmission of Covid-19, and aiding the relaxation of pandemic-induced restrictions. We propose a four-rung ethical paradigm for the deployment of such technology. We call it the STEP model and its four pillars consist of (i) sunset clauses, (ii) trust, (iii) equity, and (iv) privacy preservation.
         
        
            Copyright and license 
            ©Indian Journal of Medical Ethics 2022: Open Access and Distributed under the Creative Commons license (  CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), which permits only non-commercial and non-modified sharing in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.