Press Releases

How to deal with issues surrounding extremely expensive medicines in a just way? Who determines the prices, who pays them and who has access to such therapies? The German Ethics Council is holding its annual meeting at the Hotel Estrel in Berlin and via livestream on 22 June 2022, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Both with experts and the general public, the ethical challenges are discussed that arise when high-priced new medicines are used in a context of limited resources. One aim is to identify reasonable criteria for a sustainable and fair assessment, pricing and distribution of these drugs.

Professor Dr. phil. Mark Schweda is a new member of the German Ethics Council.

Today, the German Ethics Council presents to the public its latest Opinion, in which it reflects on the experience gathered in the struggle against the COVID-19 pandemic and draws conclusions for future ways to deal with a pandemic. The Council develops important ethical criteria for complex decisions and presents recommendations to improve the response to particular vulnerabilities of individuals and institutions, and to strengthen their resilience.

In an online evening event of the series “Bioethics Forum” on 23 February, the German Ethics Council will discuss – together with experts and the audience – medical, ethical and sociological questions of dealing with non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT).

On the basis of a nuanced presentation of essential ethical and legal arguments in favour of and against a general statutory duty to vaccinate, the German Ethics Council, in its Ad Hoc Recommendation “Ethical Orientation on the Issue of General Mandatory Vaccination”, published on 22 December, argues the case for an expansion of the mandatory vaccination policy that goes beyond the sectoral mandatory vaccination policy recently adopted by the German Bundestag.

Together with experts and the audience participating online, the German Ethics Council will discuss on 17 November the phenomenon of self-measurement in various contexts, from everyday self-measurement such as step counting to medical applications and self-optimisation. The focus will be on the ethical and aesthetic reflection of the thus changing concepts of (normal) corporeality.