Ang Isyu ng Katarungan sa Panahon ng Pandemya

Given the usually limited supply of resources needed to meet our healthcare needs during a pandemic, coming up with a fair system of prioritization by which such resources are to be distributed is both extremely urgent and morally obligatory. In the area of political morality, the issue of what counts as a fair allocation of resources, which may generally come in the form of being benefits or burdens, is referred to as the issue of distributive justice. In this essay, I look into the issue of distributive justice in the context of the current COVID-19 pandemic. After examining the basic claims of the various theories of distributive justice and how they apply to healthcare resource allocations, I then advance a framework for evaluating the moral justifiability of prioritization schemes for a fair allocation of healthcare resources, especially the vaccines, during the pandemic. The framework basically incorporates moral considerations based on welfare, capabilities, and opportunities. © 2021. Napoleon M. Mabaquiao, Jr.