A World Health Organisation (WHO) working group co-chaired by Jonathan Wolff, Alfred Landecker Professor of Values and Public Policy, published a policy brief to offer guidance on the ethics surrounding COVID-19 vaccine trials.

With this policy brief, the WHO's Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator Ethics and Governance Working Group aims to guide ethical decision-making on COVID-19 vaccine trial unblinding and the use of active or placebo controls in the context of COVID-19 candidate vaccines attaining Emergency Use Designation.

The guidance document was drafted by Jerome Amir Singh (University of KwaZuluNatal, South Africa and University of Toronto, Canada), with guidance from the co-chairs, Jonathan Wolff and Sonali Kochhar (University of Washington, Seattle, United States; Global Healthcare Consulting, India).