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Noticed how the majority of Dutch virologists and modellers responsible for the Dutch COVID-19 strategy have a veterinary (animal medicine) background? A short thread 1/x
‘One Health’ is the scientific paradigm that advocates an interdisciplinary approach to researching zoonoses - which makes sense https://www.rivm.nl/en/one-health 2/x
There is some criticism, though, as veterinary medicine and its human counterpart are fundamentally different in some respects. See for example https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/zph.12536
“Due to its ambiguity, One Health functions as a boundary object: by leaving room for interpretation to fit different purposes, it facilitates cooperation. In many cases, this results in the promotion of health of humans, animals and the environment.”
So far, so good 3/x
So far, so good 3/x
“However, there are also situations in which this mutual benefit of a One Health approach is not that evident, for instance, when healthy animals are culled to protect public health.”
4/x
4/x
Well. One could also argue that the dominance of veterinary medical science and methods could have effects in the other direction: sacrificing human lives just to save the herd
“This raises questions on how we should understand the One Health concept in zoonotic disease control. Is it really about equally improving the health of humans, animals and the environment and is this even possible?...”
“... Or is it ultimately just public health that counts?”
Or is it *not* public health and saving human lives that counts, when your zoonotic pandemic response is led by veterinary virologists who are *not* primarily focused on public health?
Or is it *not* public health and saving human lives that counts, when your zoonotic pandemic response is led by veterinary virologists who are *not* primarily focused on public health?
“In cases of conflict between different values, the lack of a universal definition of the One Health concept contributes to this complexity.”
An interdisciplinary approach that blurs the lines between animal & human medicine also blurs lines between values & ethical frameworks
An interdisciplinary approach that blurs the lines between animal & human medicine also blurs lines between values & ethical frameworks
“In the context of One Health and zoonotic disease control, this conception seems to conceal underlying normative differences.”
Well, those difference are bound to reveal themselves when veterinary virologists propose ‘herd immunity’ as a pandemic response approach
Well, those difference are bound to reveal themselves when veterinary virologists propose ‘herd immunity’ as a pandemic response approach
(BTW, @marionkoopmans is a director of the Netherlands Centre for One Health)
“This discourse has been largely driven by the security motives of wealthy countries and framed as having solutions in natural science research.” https://steps-centre.org/blog/one-health-are-we-doing-it-wrong/
“At these congresses, scientific consideration of social dynamics were notably absent. When mentioned at all, they took the form of anecdotal experiences or ‘gut feelings’ related by researchers in the natural sciences who were unfamiliar with [...] the social sciences.”
TL;DR: virology & epidemiology in NL are dominated by veterinary scientists who operate within a multidisciplinary framework that appears much less influenced by the ethical underpinnings & commitment to public health of regular human medicine.
