All people matter – Global vaccine equity and human rights: An urgent macro social work challenge

Abstract

As we move through the first half of 2021, world attention remains on the COVID-19 response. High-income countries move toward vaccine rollouts as the panacea to reclaim normality and rebuild economies. At a fundamental level, decisions are being made as to who should be prioritized to receive a vaccine as the mammoth logistical arrangements are implemented. These have been primarily questions for nation states managing local populations to prioritize the elderly, front line health or emergency workers and the immune compromised. These are essentially state foci based on the assumption that individual states have access to the vaccine in 2021. Few questions are being asked of what this means for humanity at a global level. This is because only state jurisdictions that have wealth and scale have a need to ask such questions. At a global level, vaccine eligibility is being determined by people’s country of citizenship. The uncomfortable and unanswered question here is, are some lives more valuable or deserving? Should someone’s citizenship be a determining factor on when and if one has access to a vaccine? What does it say about humanity if survival of the pandemic were to be determined by such ethics? This is occurring in a context where a few wealthy countries are purchasing doses of vaccine well in excess of their population needs as a type of risk management strategy (Doucleff, 2020). Furthermore, if the distribution of vaccines is restricted to high-income countries without a parallel distribution across low- and middle-income countries, this has serious public health implications globally. Travel between states is a common occurrence, and will soon return. In this context, the statement of our times ‘global is local and vice versa’ could not be more relevant. Inequity in vaccine distribution and administration will have profound implications for all countries, not just those who have had limited vaccine access.