Assessment of COVID-19 vaccination programs in south america: utilitarism or prioritarism?

Abstract

National vaccination programs against SARS-CoV2 in South America played an important role in the timely response to the COVID-19 pandemic, however, was an ethical approach capable of guaranteeing greater benefit to the population through vaccination being applied? To answer this question, my aim was to analyze the national vaccination programs of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Peru to identify the extent to which they aligned with the utilitarianism and prioritarianism oriented ethical approaches when assigning the vaccine against COVID-19. I start from the hypothesis that all the selected countries propose vaccination policies with possible prioritarian and/or utilitarian ethical approaches, however, those that align with prioritarianism manage to better adhere to the moral duties of social justice. To demonstrate my hypothesis, I have integrated the socio-economic information, analyzed the coverage strategies of each country and tried to frame them with the proposed ethical approaches, to finally present arguments for and against these approaches. I conclude that, unlike utilitarianism, the application of prioritarianism to the vaccine allocation schemes of the four countries analyzed allowed prioritizing the vaccine in those who are worse off in terms of social justice, and that, unequivocally, includes the severely ill.