Some Research Ethics Questions during the COVID-19 Pandemics. What Prospects for the Future?

Abstract

This article attempts to review a few of the most pressing questions that have been discussed in the aftermath of the COVID-19 outbreak. The general questions concerning research of potentially dangerous viruses, the ethical issued connected to the clinical trials that are undergone, as well as the relationship between benefits and risks involved in vaccine research are considered. The characteristics of the present emergency situation causes sometimes the ethical principles to be adapted. Therefore, those who chose to modify the ethical principles must act in a responsible way, even if this responsibility is of a moral nature, instead of a juridical one.