Justice in Allocations for Terrorism, Biological Warfare, and Public Health

Abstract

Terrorism, biological or chemical warfare, and the public health response to threats and events are on everyone’s mind. At the same time, any public policy response must be just. Yet, it is difficult to achieve justice in public health policy because there is neither a single consideration nor a simple formula for success. A variety of considerations can legitimately support good policy and a variety of cloaked and disguised hazards can intrude on the policy-making process and, in the name of justice, lead to indefensible results. For public health policies to be just, the reasons behind them must be the ones that reasonable people would find most compelling and most appropriate. Policies must reflect the choices that reasonable people would make and the priorities that reasonable people find most pressing. To achieve a just result, those who are responsible for creating public health policy need to be alert to the kinds of illegitimate considerations that can distort and pervert any policy. This paper discusses both the priorities for justice in public health policies designed to protect against and respond to terrorism and biological or chemical warfare and for the hazards that policy makers should try to avoid.