COVID-19 vaccine mandates have come and mostly gone in the US – an ethicist explains why their messy rollout matters for trust in public health

Ending pandemics is a social decision, not scientific. Ideally, leaders try to minimize the social, economic and public health burden of removing emergency restrictions while maximizing potential benefits. Vaccine policy is a particularly complicated part of pandemic decision-making, involving a variety of other complex and often contradicting interests and considerations.