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COVID-19 and the vaccine tax: an egalitarian, market-based approach to the global vaccine inequality
  1. Andreas Albertsen1,2
  1. 1 Department of Political Science, School of Business and Social Sciences, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
  2. 2 CEPDISC, The Centre for the Experimental-Philosophical Study of Discrimination, Department of Political Science, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
  1. Correspondence to Mr Andreas Albertsen; aba{at}ps.au.dk

Abstract

The global inequality in the distribution of vaccines is unjust. As countries scrambled to ensure enough vaccines, the world’s poorest were left to fend for themselves, and the generosity meant to mitigate this through COVAX was not sufficiently forthcoming. In light of this, I proposed a vaccine tax, which obligates those willing and able to pay to protect their own population to contribute to protecting those residing in the world’s low-income countries. Petrovic has offered an important critique of this proposal, questioning both the fairness and the efficiency of the tax. However, when properly specified, the vaccine tax is not vulnerable to these critiques.

  • COVID-19
  • Ethics
  • Ethics- Medical
  • Philosophy- Medical
  • Public Policy

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Footnotes

  • Contributors AA solely contributed to this manuscript.

  • Funding This study was funded by Danmarks Grundforskningsfond (DNRF144), Samfund og Erhverv, Det Frie Forskningsråd (2033-00203B), Danmarks Frie Forskningsfond (9037-00007B).

  • Competing interests None declared.

  • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; internally peer reviewed.

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