COVID-19 Vaccination in Developing Nations: Challenges and Opportunities for Innovation

Abstract

Vaccines offer a hope toward ending the global pandemic caused by SARS-CoV2. Mass vaccination of the global population offers hope to curb the spread. Developing nations, however, face monumental challenges in procurement, allocation, distribution and uptake of vaccines. Inequities in vaccine supply are already evident with resource-rich nations having secured a large chunk of the available vaccine doses for 2021. Once supplies are made available, vaccines will have to be distributed and administered to entire populations—with considerations for individual risk level, remote geography, cultural and socio-economic factors. This would require logistical and trained personnel support that can be hard to come by for resource-poor nations. Several vaccines also require ultra-cold temperatures for storage and transport and therefore the need for specialized equipment and reliable power supply which may also not be readily available. Lastly, attention will need to be paid to ensuring adequate uptake of vaccines since vaccine hesitancy has already been reported for COVID vaccines. However, existing strengths of local and regional communities can be leveraged to provide innovative solutions and mitigate some of the challenges. Regional and international cooperation can also play a big role in ensuring equity in vaccine access and vaccination.

Disparities in COVID-19 Vaccination among Low-, Middle-, and High-Income Countries: The Mediating Role of Vaccination Policy

“…Countries with lower income levels often lack stable vaccination management and information systems, functional cold chains, transport and public health infrastructure, adequate service providers, and financial support [ 34 ], all of which can affect the rapid deployment of vaccines. However, several studies have also shown that vaccine acceptance is lower among low-income populations because of a lack of accurate knowledge about COVID-19 risks and vaccine effectiveness [ 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 ]. In particular, vaccination reluctance among 65+ age group in the emerging and low-income group is more noteworthy.…”

“…Based on previous studies [ 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 ], vaccine acceptance tends to be lower in low-income countries because of a lack of knowledge about disease risk and the effectiveness of vaccines. It is warranted to expand on their ideas of how to heighten knowledge about COVID-19 risk as well as vaccine effectiveness.…”

COVID-19 and the Impact on the Cranio-Oro-Facial Trauma Care in Italy: An Epidemiological Retrospective Cohort Study

“…However, to provide the adequate telehealth services, the health professionals should be able to adapt to the changed work environment and should be productive and thrive in general [ 33 , 34 ]. Operative strategies like these could be useful to provide the first assistance for green code patients and optimize the hospital receptive capabilities, until the global vaccine campaign achieves a significant level of prevention that will certainly mitigate some of the current challenges that we are facing [ 35 ].…”

Controversy surrounding the Sputnik V vaccine

“…Consequently, the vaccination should be done at mass scale to eradicate the severe COVID-19 symptoms and to minimize the chances of infection. However, low- and medium-income nations face monumental challenges in procurement, allocation, distribution, and uptake of vaccines [ 56 ].…”