Problem and Solution Argument About COVID-19 Vaccine

As more Covid-19 vaccines come to market, who will decide who gets which vaccine, both internationally and within countries? The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious respiratory disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic in 2020, and since that time, the pandemic has had adverse impacts on society, like the death of over four million people in 2019. To reduce COVID-19 spread and costs, different vaccines have been developed for use in other parts of the world. Governments are required to ensure access of their people to safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines; however, the gauge and complexity of allocation, distribution, and prioritization of the vaccines have presented a significant challenge. Emergencies and corruption go hand in hand, especially in times of crisis; thus, the distribution of COVID-19 during the pandemic has been associated with corruption risks which can lead to substandard and falsified vaccines, theft, black market, and unequal distribution. Corruption has prevented people’s access to safe and effective vaccines, especially the most vulnerable and marginalized groups. Due to the corruption risks associated with the COVID-19 vaccine value chain, the United Nations Convention against corruption should provide a solid global framework for mitigating the risks.

The corruption issue in access to COVID-19 vaccines is a significant concern to both developed and developing countries. The developing nations are the most affected by this issue, as shown in Table 1 below, because they are primarily affected by corruption; thus, they cannot be overlooked when addressing the corruption issue.

Table 1: Regional-Level Corruption (2022) https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11356-022-18536-0

CPI is the Corruption Perception Index (0-Highly Corrupt to 100-Clean), while GCI is the Global Corruption Index (0-Low risk to 100-High risk). These nations are the most exposed to corruption due to their shadow economies, deficient healthcare, and poor education systems. They have unstable economies that cannot adequately respond to crises compared to developed countries. In addition, another factor that accelerates corruption in COVID-19 vaccination is the quality of health systems. The health sector is predisposed to corruption; thus, during the pandemic, the governments have increased spending on the health sector, making them more vulnerable to corruption (Farzanegan et al. 2). In addition, corruption is a significant concern in the vaccination process from production, allocation, and distribution of COVID-19, which has led to compromising transparency. Early approvals and the introduction of vaccines have caused the production of substandard and falsified vaccines. These early approvals are associated with those obtained through bribery. Also, there is an unequal distribution of COVID-19 vaccines whereby the developed nations have access to them compared to developing nations with significant challenges accessing the vaccines. The developed countries have infrastructure that can support fair and equal distribution of vaccines, but developing nations like Central African countries lack this infrastructure to facilitate equal distribution of vaccines.

Another evidence of corruption in different countries during the COVID-19 pandemic is vaccine hesitancy related to trust. The refusal to accept the vaccination is associated with long-standing corruption, making people lack confidence in governments. For example, in Ukraine, in a recent poll by the Kyiv Institute of Sociology, 60% of the respondents said that they did not want COVID-19 vaccines because they did not have trust in the government. In addition, corruption is a significant concern. It has shown itself during the pandemic in organizational facts in ways like inadequate policies, weak management and supervision or control procedures, inadequate resources, and lack of transparency (Usman 30303). For example, in countries like Colombia, there was the issue of ghost beneficiaries whereby there are various ID numbers of dead people who have been prioritized for vaccination in the online platform Mi Vacuna. This incidence is associated with corruption in the distribution of vaccines. Also, the working process procedures have shown mismanagement and dishonesty in the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. For instance, nepotism and favouritism have been witnessed in countries like Kenya, Canada, Peru, Argentina, Spain, Brazil, and Poland. The issues in these countries are the situations in which the leaders access the COVID-19 vaccines before they are distributed.

COVID-19 vaccination has provided a new opportunity for global corruption in the healthcare sector. It is unimaginable how the pandemic would be turned to be an arena for personal gain. Corruption in COVID-19 vaccine distribution can be caused by vaccine deployment and weak or non-existent distributions. There are many corruption risks in the entire vaccine deployment process. For example, vaccines will likely be stolen from the supply chain during distribution and sold in the black market or for personal use (Farzanegan 1). Reports show that in South America, Peruvian and Argentinian politicians and their families received vaccinations before officially being eligible. Also, even after reaching the healthcare facilities, the staff can steal the vaccines for resale in the black market if there is no reliable monitoring. Like in any other sector, this risk is expected to be more when the supply is less than demand.

Additionally, limited vaccine supplies can lead to those who have money bribing the staff to sell to them. Also, the healthcare staff in distributing the COVID-19 vaccines can demand cash or favours from patients, leaving the marginalized unvaccinated since they cannot afford it. In addition, there is a risk in vaccine procurement; the corruption issues here may include approximations of demanded vaccines inaccurately, interfering with tender procedures, false invoicing, intentionally forging tender documents favouring a particular bidder, and failure to deliver the vaccines. In this process of procuring, the government may receive bribes from the suppliers.

The second cause of corruption during the pandemic is corrupt vaccine policy decisions. Governments have allowed the private sector and other stakeholders to influence their decision-making in COVID-19 vaccine policy and deployment. The government leaders may be prone to bribes and payoffs from companies producing the vaccines with a stake in decision-making, thus influencing price, buyers, and place of distribution. Also, people closely related to the healthcare sector may be involved in making vaccine procurement and distribution policies. In connection with the policy-making process, there are factors like nepotism or favouritism in access to vaccines. This factor allows only given groups of people to access the vaccines due to favour or interests, leaving the marginalized in a position where they cannot access the vaccines (Farzanegan et al. 1). lack of transparency and accountability causes people to favour only some people involved in the decision-making process and access to vaccines. Some government officials are selfish and might seek to enrich themselves or those related to them through procurements. Also, the suppliers may bribe the government officials involved in the procurement process of vaccines to favour them and scrap off any regulatory controls even when they have inflated the prices. This favouritism in the supply chain and contracts leads to substandard and falsified vaccines leading to a loss of trust in the public. The favouritism leads to falsified vaccines because it facilitates the involvement of people with no skills or criminal groups.

Corruption is destructive in any sector; now, imagine its destruction in the health sector during the COVID-19 pandemic if not solved. Having identified the roots and factors associated with corruption in the COVID-19 pandemic vaccination process, it is possible to identify the possible solutions for mitigating the corruption risks. These measures may help reduce these corruption risks, preventing access to safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines. The organization which is responsible for the process of utilizing the measures is the United Nations Convention against corruption. There are both long-term and short-term solutions that can be helpful. The first possible solution which can be significant is the solidification of anti-corruption laws; the increased corruption risks can be mitigated by strengthening the existing corruption laws and policies. These include active participation in civil society, maintenance of the rule of law, and ensuring sound management of affairs. The government offices should ensure transparency and accountability in the procurement, allocation, and distribution of vaccines (Radević et al. 4). Strengthening the laws can help build auditing, oversight, and regulation of the vaccine value chain. In addition, civil society participation can help in formulating policies that curb corruption. Civil society can help in dealing with any irregularities like unofficial contracts.

In addition, awareness is an effective solution that can help curb corruption risks in the vaccine value chain. The reality is that the government, through the laws and policies formulated, cannot reach every healthcare facility to ensure the fair distribution and administering of vaccines. As the pandemic continues to strike people, they may not know about falsified vaccines in the market regardless of increased demand. With the increasing demand, there is a risk of substandard vaccines. Government can avoid this effect of corruption risk by making people aware of it by punishing those involved in corrupt practices in the vaccination process and making them examples of others (Usman et al. 30306). Awareness can be achieved by conducting corruption risk assessments to identify vulnerabilities that people need to be aware of and how to mitigate them. Additionally, the public must be aware of issues like nepotism, favouritism, undue corporate influences and corrupt procurement and distribution services. The public must be aware of these practices to reduce the risk of corruption. For instance, governments and sponsors can use public information campaigns about vaccination, especially in developing countries where corruption practices may be high. These campaigns can help communicate solid plans that can help fight corruption risks. The awareness campaigns can also help educate people in government, healthcare, and manufacturing sectors about accountability, transparency, trust, and integrity in their practices. A strategy for making awareness is protecting journalists and whistle-blowers who seem to air out any corrupt practice associated with COVID-19 vaccines. Safeguarding them and ensuring they report any issue without fear is essential.

The fact being one of the significant causes of corruption risk during the COVID-19 pandemic is weak vaccine deployment and weak or non-existent distributions. The solution to this can be well-planned distribution channels and transparent procurement. There is a need to administer and monitor the distribution channels correctly and regularly by those in authority. It is essential to emphasize the distribution channels of vaccines to deliver them to people and organizations in the rights hands that are transparent and accountable to reduce corruption risks in the procurement and distribution stages (Gorodensky et al. 7). The distribution channels can be made good performers through; a transparent partnership between authorities, manufacturers, and the healthcare sector. Secondly, centralized distribution contracts with potential backup suppliers can avoid shortages that may cause substandard and falsified vaccines or corrupt practices. Also, well-planned channels can be through developing a flexible, scalable, secure web-based tracking system to help in vaccine allocation, restocking, and management (Usman et al. 30306). However, from different facts, good technology cannot be productive in any activity when corrupt practices control the people handling and managing it. It is essential to match the excellent system with appropriate and suitable people who cannot be associated with dishonesty issues. To avoid the issue of shortages and delays in the supply chain, planning for raw materials and supplies can help to distribute more vaccines to respond to the increasing demands and avoid issues like falsified vaccines or bribery. In addition, it is essential to develop secure storage and distribution systems; this can help to secure the safe and effective delivery of COVID-19 vaccines. Storing the vaccines safely can help to avoid diverting them to the black market. It is essential to develop strategies that prevent theft in distribution channels, such as storing in undisclosed areas or ensuring tight security. Lastly, on the side of procurement, there should be open contracting and e-procurement. This can help tell the public what, from whom, and quantity. E-procurement can help fight corruption by helping publicize relevant data, for example, bidding and awarding contracts to ensure transparency.

The last solution is identifying and protecting vulnerable groups; corruption risks in this pandemic will likely affect the vulnerable and marginalized people in society. Corruption causes barriers to access to safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines; thus, there is a need to recognize those affected for them to be supported. They need to be made aware of the vaccine programs and entitlement for them not to be asked for any cash or bribes (Bardosh et al. 8). Additionally, the government should use effective strategies like e-procurement and distribution systems to ensure equal and fair distribution of vaccines to reach even the marginalized. The United Nations Convention against corruption should ensure that even developing countries can access vaccines irrespective of their infrastructure. It is essential for this organization that the vulnerable and marginalized are not prevented from accessing the vaccine. They can afford to give bribes or do not have connections because they also have the right to health. They should be educated about their rights to access health and to benefit from vaccination programs, and they should raise the alarm in case of corrupt practices in their access to COVID-19 vaccines. They should be educated about the risk of substandard or falsified vaccines in the black market.

To sum up, corruption is an excellent issue arising from manufacturing, allocating, and distributing COVID-19 vaccines because it leads to adverse effects like substandard and falsified vaccines, unequal distribution of vaccines, theft, and resale of vaccines in black markets. Causes of these corruption risks are weak vaccine deployment and weak or non-existent distributions, and corrupt vaccine policy decisions. These factors are associated with favouritism or nepotism, fraud in procurement, lack of transparency, and the existence of unequal distribution of resources, among others factors. The causes of corruption risks in COVID-19 vaccination can be solved by recommendations like a solidification of anti-corruption laws, well-planned distribution channels and transparent procurement, awareness and identification, and protection of vulnerable groups. Generally, there is a need to ensure transparency and accountability in the vaccination process to help fight corruption which has destructive effects on people. Also, there is a need to do more research and identify the roots and solutions of corruption in the healthcare sector. It must be addressed before forming large black markets or more significant effects during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Work Cited

Bardosh, Kevin, et al. “The unintended consequences of COVID-19 vaccine policy: why mandates, passports, and restrictions may cause more harm than good.” BMJ Global Health 7.5 (2022): e008684.

Farzanegan, Mohammad Reza, and Hans Philipp Hofmann. “An Old Plug and a New Virus: Effect of Public Corruption on the Covid-19 Immunization Progress.” (2021).

Farzanegan, Mohammad Reza, and Hans Philipp Hofmann. “Effect of public corruption on the COVID-19 immunization progress.” Scientific reports 11.1 (2021): 1-10.

Gorodensky, Ariel, and Jillian C. Kohler. “State capture through indemnification demands? Effects on equity in the global distribution of COVID-19 vaccines.” Journal of Pharmaceutical Policy and Practice 15.1 (2022): 1-11.

Radević, Ivan, Nikša Alfirević, and Anđelko Lojpur. “Corruption, public trust and medical autonomy in the public health sector of Montenegro: Taking stock of the COVID-19 influence.” PloS one 17.9 (2022): e0274318.

Usman, Muhammad, et al. “From the COVID-19 pandemic to corrupt practices: a tale of two evils.” Environmental Science and Pollution Research 29.20 (2022): 30297–30310.