CRISPR immunity: a case study for justified somatic genetic modification?

ABSTRACT

The current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has killed thousands across the world. SARS-CoV-2 is the latest but surely not the last such global pandemic we will face. The biomedical response to such pandemics includes treatment, vaccination, and so on. In this paper, though, we argue that it is time to consider an additional strategy the somatic (non-heritable) enhancement of human immunity. We argue for this approach and consider bioethics objections we believe can be overcome.