Pandemic, Equality, and Vulnerability

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is a real "stress test" for the ability of a public justice system to guarantee equality. There are many positions that, in the context of the discussions in progress in liberal democracies, are expressed with theses and arguments in favor of equity and equality in the social and health field but here we will limit ourselves to examining a few questions: in what measure does the pandemic risk undermining the principle of equality? Can this global disruption event undermine the delicate balance between equality and inequality? These are not abstract questions, because the furrow of inequalities has actually widened, and the measures adopted at various levels, especially in the area of emergency care, are not always effective. It must be noted that the most widespread ethical approaches do not take into consideration the hypothesis that the least expendable subject is the most vulnerable, the most fragile. The principle of general utility seems to prevail. However, a society that does not save the weakest first will fail to save itself from its own frailties and atomistic drift. Discrimination of vulnerability leads to the loss of equality of dignity and the common good.