The purpose of this essay is to point out that the ethical principles in public health are based on the concepts of security and social solidarity of the Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social (Mexican Institute for Social Security), ideas that Mexico contributed to the world in 1943. It is emphasized that the principlism model generates confusion to solve the ethical dilemmas that occur in the face of COVID-19 pandemic, and the pertinence of security, solidarity, ontic responsibility, diachonic responsibility as ethical principles of public health with orientation towards vulnerability is outlined, clarifying their correspondence in ethical behavior in the face of COVID-19 pandemic caused by the novel SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.Copyright: © 2020 Revista Medica del Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social.