AMA Journal of Ethics editor Audiey Kao, MD, PhD, interviewed Richard Pan, MD, MPH, about how, as a physician and legislator, he seeks to protect public health in light of recurrent outbreaks of vaccine-preventable infectious diseases.

Dr Elena Portacolone joins Ethics Talk to discuss her article, coauthored with Daisy Elise Feddoes: “Should Artificial Intelligence Play a Role in Cultivating Social Connections Among Older Adults?”

Dr Arthur Caplan talks about hesitancy among US health care workers to take COVID-19 vaccines authorized by the FDA for emergency use.

Dr Arthur Caplan talks about ethical issues surrounding the development, production, and use of potential SARS-CoV-2 vaccine.

Prof Debbie Kaminer talks about vaccine mandates and other policy solutions to promote herd immunity against COVID-19.

The ongoing anthrax vaccination case, Doe v Rumsfeld, tests whether the military can require participation in and punish refusal of a vaccination program while waiving informed consent.

When confidential medical information can prevent a serious harm to a third party, the patient’s prima facie right to confidentiality must be balanced against the physician’s prima facie obligation to prevent serious harm to that third party.

Article explains the right granted to state public health agencies by the Supreme Court in Jacobson v Massachusetts to mandate vaccination in the presence of actual or threatened danger to the health of its residents from infectious disease.

Physicians play an important role in educating parents about the social and medical consequences of refusing to have their children immunized.

A physician outlines the concept of the family covenant, an agreement between consenting family members that defines exactly how and when medical information is divulged to other family members.