REFLECTIONS OF HEALTH INEQUALITIES ON THE COVID-19 VACCINATION PROCESS AND THE VIEWS OF HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS

Kazım Baş

Research Article

Year 2022, Volume: 7 Issue: 2, 231 - 244, 27.07.2022

Kazım Baş

Abstract

References

Ahmed, F., Ahmed, N., Pissarides, C., & Stiglitz, J. (2020). Why inequality could spread COVID-19. The Lancet Public Health, 5(5), e240. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2468- 2667(20)30085-2
Arcaya, M. C., Arcaya, A. L., & Subramanian, S. V. (2015). Inequalities in health: Definitions, concepts, and theories. Global Health Action, 8(1). https://doi.org/10.3402/gha.v8.27106
Bambra, C., Albani, V., & Franklin, P. (2021). COVID-19 and the gender health paradox. Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, 49(1), 17–26. https://doi.org/10.1177/1403494820975604
Barreto, M. L. (2017). Health inequalities: A global perspective. Ciencia e Saude Coletiva, 22(7), 2097–2108. https://doi.org/10.1590/1413-81232017227.02742017
Bermejo, P. M., Valdés, L. S., López, L. S., Valdivia Onega, N. C., Vidal Ledo, M. J., Sánchez, I. A., Jo, A. S., Cruz, Y. A., & Ojeda, R. M. (2021). Equity and the Cuban National Health System’s response to COVID-19. Revista Panamericana de Salud Publica/Pan American Journal of Public Health, 45, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.26633/RPSP.2021.80
Bolcato, M., Rodriguez, D., Feola, A., Di Mizio, G., Bonsignore, A., Ciliberti, R., Tettamanti, C., Aurilio, M. T., & Aprile, A. (2021). Covid-19 pandemic and equal access to vaccines. Vaccines, 9(6), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines9060538
Cheshmehzangi, A. (2022). Vulnerability of the UK’s BAME communities during COVID-19: The review of public health and socio-economic inequalities. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 32(2), 172–188. https://doi.org/10.1080/10911359.2021.1875949
Eslava-Schmalbach, J., Rosero, E. B., & Garzón-Orjuela, N. (2021). Global control of COVID19: Good vaccines may not suffice. Revista Panamericana de Salud Publica/Pan American Journal of Public Health, 45, 1–7. https://doi.org/10.26633/RPSP.2021.148
Ekpenyong, A., & Pacheco, M. S. (2020). COVID-19: reflecting on the role of the who in knowledge exchange between the global North and South. Global Social Policy, 20(3), 388- 392. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468018120966657
Forman, L., & Kohler, J. C. (2020). Global health and human rights in the time of COVID-19: Response, restrictions, and legitimacy. Journal of Human Rights, 19(5), 547–556. https://doi.org/10.1080/14754835.2020.1818556
Hasan, H. F. (2021). Legal and health response to covid-19 in the Arab Countries. Risk Management and Healthcare Policy, 14, 1141–1154. https://doi.org/10.2147/RMHP.S297565
Haynes, K. (2020). Structural inequalities exposed by COVID-19 in the UK: the need for an accounting for care. Journal of Accounting & Organizational Change, 16 (4); 2020, 637- 642. doi: 10.1108/JAOC-08-2020-0099
Keys, C., Nanayakkara, G., Onyejekwe, C., Sah, R. K., & Wright, T. (2021). Health Inequalities and Ethnic Vulnerabilities During COVID-19 in the UK: A Reflection on the PHE Reports. Feminist Legal Studies, 29(1), 107–118. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10691-020-09446-y
Kluge, H., Martín-Moreno, J. M., Emiroglu, N., Rodier, G., Kelley, E., Vujnovic, M., & Permanand, G. (2018). Strengthening global health security by embedding the International Health Regulations requirements into national health systems. BMJ Global Health, 3(2005), 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2017-000656
Mathieu, E., Ritchie, H., Ortiz-Ospina, E., Roser, M., Hasell, J., Appel, C., Giattino, C., & Rodés-Guirao, L. (2021). A global database of COVID-19 vaccinations. Nature Human Behaviour, 5(7), 947–953. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01122-8
Mubangizi, J. C., & Mubangizi, B. C. (2021). Human rights and access to covid-19 vaccines in rural south Africa: The role of local government. Journal of Southwest Jiaotong University, 56(4). https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.35741/issn.0258-2724.56.4.54
Nafilyan, V., Dolby, T., Razieh, C., Gaughan, C. H., Morgan, J., Ayoubkhani, D., Walker, S., Khunti, K., Glickman, M., & Yates, T. (2021). Sociodemographic inequality in COVID-19 vaccination coverage among elderly adults in England: A national linked data study. BMJ Open, 11(7), 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2021-053402
Njoku, A., Joseph, M., & Felix, R. (2021). Changing the narrative: Structural barriers and racial and ethnic inequities in covid-19 vaccination. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(18). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18189904
Nwosu, C. O., & Oyenubi, A. (2021). Income-related health inequalities associated with the coronavirus pandemic in South Africa: A decomposition analysis. International Journal for Equity in Health, 20(1), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-020-01361-7
Okoi, O., & Bwawa, T. (2020). How health inequality affect responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in Sub-Saharan Africa. World Development, 135, 105067. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.105067
Perry, M., Akbari, A., Cottrell, S., Gravenor, M. B., Roberts, R., Lyons, R. A., Bedston, S., Torabi, F., & Griffiths, L. (2021). Inequalities in coverage of COVID-19 vaccination: A population register based cross-sectional study in Wales, UK. Vaccine, 39(42), 6256–6261. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2021.09.019
Perveen, S., Akram, M., Nasar, A., Arshad-Ayaz, A., & Naseem, A. (2022). Vaccinationhesitancy and vaccination-inequality as challenges in Pakistan’s COVID-19 response. Journal of Community Psychology, 50(2), 666–683. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.22652
Rađenović, T., Radivojević, V., Krstić, B., Stanišić, T., & Živković, S. (2022). The efficiency of health systems in response to the covid-19 pandemic: Evidence from the eu countries. Problemy Ekorozwoju, 17(1), 7–15. https://doi.org/10.35784/pe.2022.1.01
Rodríguez-Bailón, R. (2020). Inequality viewed through the mirror of COVID-19 (La desigualdad ante el espejo del COVID-19). Revista de Psicologia Social, 35(3), 647–655. https://doi.org/10.1080/02134748.2020.1796298
Seddighi, H. (2020). COVID-19 as a Natural Disaster: Focusing on Exposure and Vulnerability for Response. Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness, 14(4), E42–E43. https://doi.org/10.1017/dmp.2020.279
Shamasunder, S., Holmes, S. M., Goronga, T., Carrasco, H., Katz, E., Frankfurter, R., & Keshavjee, S. (2020). COVID-19 reveals weak health systems by design: Why we must remake global health in this historic moment. Global Public Health, 15(7), 1083–1089. https://doi.org/10.1080/17441692.2020.1760915
Sina-Odunsi, A. J. (2021). COVID-19 vaccines inequity and hesitancy among African Americans. Clinical Epidemiology and Global Health, 12(August), 14–16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cegh.2021.100876
Siu, J. Y. man. (2021). Health inequality experienced by the socially disadvantaged populations during the outbreak of COVID-19 in Hong Kong: An interaction with social inequality. Health and Social Care in the Community, 29(5), 1522–1529. https://doi.org/10.1111/hsc.13214
Spencer, N., Nathawad, R., Arpin, E., & Johnson, S. (2020). Pandemics, epidemics and inequities in routine childhood vaccination coverage: A rapid review. BMJ Paediatrics Open, 4(1), 2019–2021. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjpo-2020-000842
Su, Z., McDonnell, D., Li, X., Bennett, B., Šegalo, S., Abbas, J., Cheshmehzangi, A., & Xiang,
Y. T. (2021). Covid-19 vaccine donations—vaccine empathy or vaccine diplomacy? A narrative literature review. Vaccines, 9(9), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines9091024 Mathieu, E., Ritchie, H., Ortiz-Ospina, E., Roser, M., Hasell, J., Appel, C., ... & Rodés-Guirao,
L. (2021). A global database of COVID-19 vaccinations. Nature human behaviour, 5(7), 947-953. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01122-8
Taghizade, S., Chattu, V. K., Jaafaripooyan, E., & Kevany, S. (2021). COVID-19 Pandemic as an Excellent Opportunity for Global Health Diplomacy. Frontiers in Public Health, 9(July), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.655021 Taylor, A. L., Habibi, R., Burci, G. L., Dagron, S., Eccleston-Turner, M., Gostin, L. O., Meier, B. M., Phelan, A., Villarreal, P. A., Yamin, A. E., Chirwa, D., Forman, L., Ooms, G.,
Sekalala, S., & Hoffman, S. J. (2020). Solidarity in the wake of COVID-19: reimagining the International Health Regulations. The Lancet, 396(10244), 82–83. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)31417-3
United Nations Human Right Office of the High Commissioner. (2020). Human Rights and Acces to COVID-19 Vaccines. In OHCHR. https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Events/COVID19_AccessVaccines_Guidance.pdf
Van De Pas, R., Widdowson, M. A., Ravinetto, R., N Srinivas, P., Ochoa, T. J., Fofana, T. O., & Van Damme, W. (2022). COVID-19 vaccine equity: a health systems and policy perspective. Expert Review of Vaccines, 21(1), 25–36. https://doi.org/10.1080/14760584.2022.2004125
Watkinson, R. E., Williams, R., Gillibrand, S., Sanders, C., & Sutton, M. (2022). Ethnic inequalities in COVID-19 vaccine uptake and comparison to seasonal influenza vaccine uptake in Greater Manchester, UK: A cohort study. PLoS medicine, 19(3), e1003932. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1003982
Wildman, J. (2021). COVID-19 and income inequality in OECD countries. European Journal of Health Economics, 22(3), 455–462. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10198-021-01266-

REFLECTIONS OF HEALTH INEQUALITIES ON THE COVID-19 VACCINATION PROCESS AND THE VIEWS OF HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS

Year 2022, Volume: 7 Issue: 2, 231 - 244, 27.07.2022

Kazım Baş

Abstract

Aim: Social and economic conditions are the main reasons for the emergence of inequalities. During the
COVID-19 pandemic, inequalities were seen to increase further. This study was conducted to evaluate the
reflections of health inequalities on the COVID-19 vaccination process and the views and recommendations
of health care professionals in this regard.
Methods: This descriptive research was conducted in eastern Turkey with 344 health care professionals.
The research data were collected using a questionnaire and analyzed by using numbers, mean and
percentages.
Results: Of the health care professionals, 95.9% reported inequality between countries during the COVID19 vaccination process, 97.1% reported that access to vaccines was a human right, and 96.1% reported that
everyone should have access to vaccines without discrimination. According to health care professionals,
not releasing the vaccines into the public domain (86.3%), the income of countries (84.3%), and failure to determine vaccination priorities according to public health rules (77.9%) were among the reasons for
inequality between countries in COVID-19 vaccination.
Conclusion: Health care professionals reported that there were inequalities between countries in the
COVID-19 vaccination process. Almost all of them are of the opinion that access to vaccines is a human
right and that everyone should have access to vaccines without discrimination.

Keywords

COVID-19, COVID-19 vaccination, inequality in health

References

Ahmed, F., Ahmed, N., Pissarides, C., & Stiglitz, J. (2020). Why inequality could spread COVID-19. The Lancet Public Health, 5(5), e240. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2468- 2667(20)30085-2
Arcaya, M. C., Arcaya, A. L., & Subramanian, S. V. (2015). Inequalities in health: Definitions, concepts, and theories. Global Health Action, 8(1). https://doi.org/10.3402/gha.v8.27106
Bambra, C., Albani, V., & Franklin, P. (2021). COVID-19 and the gender health paradox. Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, 49(1), 17–26. https://doi.org/10.1177/1403494820975604
Barreto, M. L. (2017). Health inequalities: A global perspective. Ciencia e Saude Coletiva, 22(7), 2097–2108. https://doi.org/10.1590/1413-81232017227.02742017
Bermejo, P. M., Valdés, L. S., López, L. S., Valdivia Onega, N. C., Vidal Ledo, M. J., Sánchez, I. A., Jo, A. S., Cruz, Y. A., & Ojeda, R. M. (2021). Equity and the Cuban National Health System’s response to COVID-19. Revista Panamericana de Salud Publica/Pan American Journal of Public Health, 45, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.26633/RPSP.2021.80
Bolcato, M., Rodriguez, D., Feola, A., Di Mizio, G., Bonsignore, A., Ciliberti, R., Tettamanti, C., Aurilio, M. T., & Aprile, A. (2021). Covid-19 pandemic and equal access to vaccines. Vaccines, 9(6), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines9060538
Cheshmehzangi, A. (2022). Vulnerability of the UK’s BAME communities during COVID-19: The review of public health and socio-economic inequalities. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 32(2), 172–188. https://doi.org/10.1080/10911359.2021.1875949
Eslava-Schmalbach, J., Rosero, E. B., & Garzón-Orjuela, N. (2021). Global control of COVID19: Good vaccines may not suffice. Revista Panamericana de Salud Publica/Pan American Journal of Public Health, 45, 1–7. https://doi.org/10.26633/RPSP.2021.148
Ekpenyong, A., & Pacheco, M. S. (2020). COVID-19: reflecting on the role of the who in knowledge exchange between the global North and South. Global Social Policy, 20(3), 388- 392. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468018120966657
Forman, L., & Kohler, J. C. (2020). Global health and human rights in the time of COVID-19: Response, restrictions, and legitimacy. Journal of Human Rights, 19(5), 547–556. https://doi.org/10.1080/14754835.2020.1818556
Hasan, H. F. (2021). Legal and health response to covid-19 in the Arab Countries. Risk Management and Healthcare Policy, 14, 1141–1154. https://doi.org/10.2147/RMHP.S297565
Haynes, K. (2020). Structural inequalities exposed by COVID-19 in the UK: the need for an accounting for care. Journal of Accounting & Organizational Change, 16 (4); 2020, 637- 642. doi: 10.1108/JAOC-08-2020-0099
Keys, C., Nanayakkara, G., Onyejekwe, C., Sah, R. K., & Wright, T. (2021). Health Inequalities and Ethnic Vulnerabilities During COVID-19 in the UK: A Reflection on the PHE Reports. Feminist Legal Studies, 29(1), 107–118. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10691-020-09446-y
Kluge, H., Martín-Moreno, J. M., Emiroglu, N., Rodier, G., Kelley, E., Vujnovic, M., & Permanand, G. (2018). Strengthening global health security by embedding the International Health Regulations requirements into national health systems. BMJ Global Health, 3(2005), 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2017-000656
Mathieu, E., Ritchie, H., Ortiz-Ospina, E., Roser, M., Hasell, J., Appel, C., Giattino, C., & Rodés-Guirao, L. (2021). A global database of COVID-19 vaccinations. Nature Human Behaviour, 5(7), 947–953. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01122-8
Mubangizi, J. C., & Mubangizi, B. C. (2021). Human rights and access to covid-19 vaccines in rural south Africa: The role of local government. Journal of Southwest Jiaotong University, 56(4). https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.35741/issn.0258-2724.56.4.54
Nafilyan, V., Dolby, T., Razieh, C., Gaughan, C. H., Morgan, J., Ayoubkhani, D., Walker, S., Khunti, K., Glickman, M., & Yates, T. (2021). Sociodemographic inequality in COVID-19 vaccination coverage among elderly adults in England: A national linked data study. BMJ Open, 11(7), 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2021-053402
Njoku, A., Joseph, M., & Felix, R. (2021). Changing the narrative: Structural barriers and racial and ethnic inequities in covid-19 vaccination. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(18). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18189904
Nwosu, C. O., & Oyenubi, A. (2021). Income-related health inequalities associated with the coronavirus pandemic in South Africa: A decomposition analysis. International Journal for Equity in Health, 20(1), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-020-01361-7
Okoi, O., & Bwawa, T. (2020). How health inequality affect responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in Sub-Saharan Africa. World Development, 135, 105067. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.105067
Perry, M., Akbari, A., Cottrell, S., Gravenor, M. B., Roberts, R., Lyons, R. A., Bedston, S., Torabi, F., & Griffiths, L. (2021). Inequalities in coverage of COVID-19 vaccination: A population register based cross-sectional study in Wales, UK. Vaccine, 39(42), 6256–6261. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2021.09.019
Perveen, S., Akram, M., Nasar, A., Arshad-Ayaz, A., & Naseem, A. (2022). Vaccinationhesitancy and vaccination-inequality as challenges in Pakistan’s COVID-19 response. Journal of Community Psychology, 50(2), 666–683. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.22652
Rađenović, T., Radivojević, V., Krstić, B., Stanišić, T., & Živković, S. (2022). The efficiency of health systems in response to the covid-19 pandemic: Evidence from the eu countries. Problemy Ekorozwoju, 17(1), 7–15. https://doi.org/10.35784/pe.2022.1.01
Rodríguez-Bailón, R. (2020). Inequality viewed through the mirror of COVID-19 (La desigualdad ante el espejo del COVID-19). Revista de Psicologia Social, 35(3), 647–655. https://doi.org/10.1080/02134748.2020.1796298
Seddighi, H. (2020). COVID-19 as a Natural Disaster: Focusing on Exposure and Vulnerability for Response. Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness, 14(4), E42–E43. https://doi.org/10.1017/dmp.2020.279
Shamasunder, S., Holmes, S. M., Goronga, T., Carrasco, H., Katz, E., Frankfurter, R., & Keshavjee, S. (2020). COVID-19 reveals weak health systems by design: Why we must remake global health in this historic moment. Global Public Health, 15(7), 1083–1089. https://doi.org/10.1080/17441692.2020.1760915
Sina-Odunsi, A. J. (2021). COVID-19 vaccines inequity and hesitancy among African Americans. Clinical Epidemiology and Global Health, 12(August), 14–16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cegh.2021.100876
Siu, J. Y. man. (2021). Health inequality experienced by the socially disadvantaged populations during the outbreak of COVID-19 in Hong Kong: An interaction with social inequality. Health and Social Care in the Community, 29(5), 1522–1529. https://doi.org/10.1111/hsc.13214
Spencer, N., Nathawad, R., Arpin, E., & Johnson, S. (2020). Pandemics, epidemics and inequities in routine childhood vaccination coverage: A rapid review. BMJ Paediatrics Open, 4(1), 2019–2021. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjpo-2020-000842
Su, Z., McDonnell, D., Li, X., Bennett, B., Šegalo, S., Abbas, J., Cheshmehzangi, A., & Xiang,
Y. T. (2021). Covid-19 vaccine donations—vaccine empathy or vaccine diplomacy? A narrative literature review. Vaccines, 9(9), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines9091024 Mathieu, E., Ritchie, H., Ortiz-Ospina, E., Roser, M., Hasell, J., Appel, C., ... & Rodés-Guirao,
L. (2021). A global database of COVID-19 vaccinations. Nature human behaviour, 5(7), 947-953. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01122-8
Taghizade, S., Chattu, V. K., Jaafaripooyan, E., & Kevany, S. (2021). COVID-19 Pandemic as an Excellent Opportunity for Global Health Diplomacy. Frontiers in Public Health, 9(July), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.655021 Taylor, A. L., Habibi, R., Burci, G. L., Dagron, S., Eccleston-Turner, M., Gostin, L. O., Meier, B. M., Phelan, A., Villarreal, P. A., Yamin, A. E., Chirwa, D., Forman, L., Ooms, G.,
Sekalala, S., & Hoffman, S. J. (2020). Solidarity in the wake of COVID-19: reimagining the International Health Regulations. The Lancet, 396(10244), 82–83. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)31417-3
United Nations Human Right Office of the High Commissioner. (2020). Human Rights and Acces to COVID-19 Vaccines. In OHCHR. https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Events/COVID19_AccessVaccines_Guidance.pdf
Van De Pas, R., Widdowson, M. A., Ravinetto, R., N Srinivas, P., Ochoa, T. J., Fofana, T. O., & Van Damme, W. (2022). COVID-19 vaccine equity: a health systems and policy perspective. Expert Review of Vaccines, 21(1), 25–36. https://doi.org/10.1080/14760584.2022.2004125
Watkinson, R. E., Williams, R., Gillibrand, S., Sanders, C., & Sutton, M. (2022). Ethnic inequalities in COVID-19 vaccine uptake and comparison to seasonal influenza vaccine uptake in Greater Manchester, UK: A cohort study. PLoS medicine, 19(3), e1003932. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1003982
Wildman, J. (2021). COVID-19 and income inequality in OECD countries. European Journal of Health Economics, 22(3), 455–462. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10198-021-01266-

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Details

Primary Language	English
Journal Section	Makaleler
Authors	Kazım Baş 0000-0002-5061-4006
Publication Date	July 27, 2022
Submission Date	June 21, 2022
Acceptance Date	July 25, 2022
Published in Issue	Year 2022 Volume: 7 Issue: 2

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APA	Baş, K. (2022). REFLECTIONS OF HEALTH INEQUALITIES ON THE COVID-19 VACCINATION PROCESS AND THE VIEWS OF HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS. International Journal of Health Management and Tourism, 7(2), 231-244.

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