Discussion – Ethical Strategies for Vaccine Trials in Communities with Historical Distrust

Discussion – Ethical Strategies for Vaccine Trials in Communities with Historical Distrust

Certain communities in rural Alabama have a historical distrust of medical research because of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. As such, engaging participants from such a community in a vaccine trial would require a considerate and ethical approach. Suppose I were part of a team in charge of conducting a vaccine trial; the first strategy I would suggest is an enhanced informed consent process. This strategy would involve the effecting of an enhanced informed consent procedure, which extends beyond the usual standard operating procedure in order to address any concerns. Some processes that would be included are comprehensive consultations, whereby willing participants are given plenty of time to understand the study and its purpose and benefits and ask questions.

The benefit of this strategy is ensuring the autonomy of the participants is guaranteed and that the ethical principle of informed consent is met. This also extends into building trust between participants and the research team, which eases the whole process. On the other hand, the downside of this strategy is being time and resource consuming (Crow et al., 2006). Earning the trust of a community that has been betrayed before is not easy, and the whole recruitment process will be slowed down, putting the trial at risk of being delayed or even canceled. This is because there is no guarantee that the participants will agree to the trial, or maybe a small number that is not enough will agree, meaning that the resources and time consumed would be in vain.

The second strategy would be collaborating with trusted leaders, such as medical professionals, church leaders, or local clergies in the community, who would act as liaisons between the team and the community. The benefit of this strategy is that it tailors the process in a way that addresses the community’s concerns that the team may not be aware of. In addition, this strategy also makes the trial process more culturally sensitive. Notably, the research team, foreigners in the community, may not be well versed culturally. Accordingly, being culturally sensitive would increase participation levels. Nonetheless, this strategy has downsides. For instance, community leaders may be skeptical of the trial for personal reasons, which would lead to more distrust from the community members. In addition, by using a community member, other community members may be pressured to join the trial due to social influence, as demonstrated by Forsyth (2014), which means that they would not voluntarily participate, affecting the ethical principles of the trial.

References

Crow, G., Wiles, R., Heath, S., & Charles, V. (2006). Research ethics and data quality: The implications of informed consent. International journal of social research methodology, 9(2), 83-95.

Forsyth, D. R. (2014). How do leaders lead? Through social influence. In Conceptions of leadership: Enduring ideas and emerging insights (pp. 185-200). Palgrave Macmillan US.

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Ethical Strategies for Vaccine Trials in Communities with Historical Distrust

Review the video Tuskegee Legacy Stories | COVID-19 Vaccine Education Initiative from Module 2.
You are part of a research team whose aim is to implement a vaccine trial in rural Alabama. Your team knows there are likely to be concerns about entering a vaccine trial. Some members of the communities from which you would like to recruit particpants reference the Tuskegee Syphilis Study as a reason to avoid entering a vaccine trial. You are tasked with assisting the research team with developing a plan to recruit participants.
In a post of at least 250 words, answer the following:
What are two strategies that you would suggest to ethically engage participants in the study?
What are potential benefits and downsides to the strategies you propose from a research ethics perspective?