El Covid-19 ha afectado a diferentes ámbitos de la sociedad (sanitario, político, social, económico, educativo, etc.). En este contexto, la investigación científica aparece como una fuente de posibles soluciones que ayuden a enfrentar el problema, evitar su propagación o favorecer una cura. La demanda de la situación implica la realización de investigaciones a un ritmo acelerado. Esto implica un desafío adicional para realizar los estudios de manera eficiente (en tiempo y recursos), pero sin descuidar los estándares éticos de la investigación con seres humanos. Ofrecemos una lista de lectura que, además de este kit de herramientas, puede ser útil para afrontar retos éticos en el contexto de la crisis por Covid-19:

Bonhoeffe et al. (2013). Template protocol for clinical trials investigating vaccines- Focus on safety elements. Vaccine, 31(47), 5602–5620. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2013.02.041

British Medical Association (2020b). COVID-19: FAQs about ethics. Extracted from https://www.bma.org.uk/advice-and-support/covid-19/ethics/covid-19-faqs-about-ethics

British Medical Association (2020b). COVID-19 – ethical issues. A guidance note. Extracted from https://www.bma.org.uk/media/2360/bma-covid-19-ethics-guidance-april-2020.pdf

Brooks, S. K., Webster, R. K., Smith, L. E., Woodland, L., Wessely, S., Greenberg, N., y Rubin, G. J. (2020). The psychological impact of quarantine and how to reduce it: rapid review of the evidence. Lancet, 395(10227), 912–920. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30460-8

Chiumento, A., Rahman, A., Frith, L., Snider, L., y Tol, W. A. (2017). Ethical standards for mental health and psychosocial support research in emergencies: review of literature and current debates. Globalization and Health, 13(1), 8. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12992-017-0231-y

Calia, C., Reid, C., Guerra, C., Oshodi, A., Marley, C., Amos, A., Barrera, P., & Grant, L. (2020). Ethical challenges in the COVID-19 research context: a toolkit for supporting analysis and resolution. Ethics & Behavior.  https://doi.org/10.1080/10508422.2020.1800469

Dalton, L., Rapa, E., & Stein,A. (2020). Protecting the psychological health of children through effective communication about COVID-19. The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2352-4642(20)30097-3.

Weinfurt, K., et al., (2008). Expectations of Benefit in Early-Phase Clinical Trials: Implications for Assessing the Adequacy of Informed Consent. Medical Decision Making, 28(4), 575–581. https://doi.org/10.1177/0272989X08315242

Frontiers (2020). Coronavirus Funding Monitor. Extracted from https://coronavirus.frontiersin.org/covid-19-research-funding-monitor

Inchausti, F., MacBeth, A., Hasson-Ohayon, I., & Dimaggio, G. (2020). Psychological interventions and the Covid-19 pandemic. Psyarxiv preprint https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/8svfa

Kupferschmidt, K. & Cohen, J. (2020). Race to find COVID-19 treatments accelerates. Science 367 (6485), 1412-1413. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.367.6485.1412

Mormina, M., Horn, R., Hallowell, N., Musesengwa, R., Lingou, S., & Nguyen, J. (2020). Research during humanitarian emergencies: Ethics best practice. Wellcome Centre for Ethics and Humanities, University of Oxford.

McKee, M., & Stuckler, D. (2020). If the world fails to protect the economy, COVID-19 will damage health not just now but also in the future. Nature Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-020-0863-y

Legido-Quigley, H., Mateos-García, J. T., Campos, V. R., Gea-Sánchez, M., Muntaner, C., y McKee, M. (2020). The resilience of the Spanish health system against the COVID-19 pandemic. Lancet Public Health. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2468-2667(20)30060-8

Li, Q., Guan, X., Wu, P., Wang, X., Zhou, L., Tong, Y., … Feng, Z. (2020). Early Transmission Dynamics in Wuhan, China, of Novel Coronavirus-Infected Pneumonia. New England Journal of Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2001316

Reid, C., Calia, C., Guerra, C. & Grant, L. (2019). Ethical Action in Global Research: A Toolkit. The University of Edinburgh. Available at: www-test.ethical-action.is.ed.ac.uk

UK Government (2013, 2017). Guidance: Pandemic Flu, ethical framework. Recovered from https://www.gov.uk/guidance/pandemic-flu#ethical-framework

United Nations (2020). COVID-19 Global Humanitarian Response Plan. Retrieved from https://www.unescap.org/news/covid-19-global-humanitarian-response-plan

WHO (2020a). Coronavirus disease (COVID-2019) situation reports, Retrieved from https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/situation-reports/

WHO (2020b). Advice on the use of masks in the context of COVID-19. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/publications-detail/advice-on-the-use-of-masks-in-the-community-during-home-care-and-in-healthcare-settings-in-the-context-of-the-novel-coronavirus-(2019-ncov)-outbreak

WHO (2020c). Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) technical guidance: The Unity Studies: Early Investigations Protocols. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/technical-guidance/early-investigations

WHO (2020d). Ethical standards for research during public health emergencies: Distilling existing guidance to support COVID-19 R&D. Extracted from https://www.who.int/blueprint/priority-diseases/key-action/liverecovery-save-of-ethical-standards-for-research-during-public-health-emergencies.pdf?ua=1