AN EXPLORATION OF THE VALUE CHAIN AND ISSUES DURING COVID-19 VACCINE DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

During a pandemic, the time frame to develop a vaccine shrinks to merely 5-9 months. Countries are shortening the normal value chain for vaccine development to mitigate the death toll during a global health crisis. An expedited process, politics, varying distribution priorities, Phase 1, 2 & 3 testing disparities, minimal oversight, financial incentives and a lack of transparency are all issues that impact trust and the quality of a vaccine. The value chain for developing a COVID-19 vaccine is explored along with possible ethical/quality issues that could arise during this process. Descriptive statistics, chi-square tests and results from Marascuilo pairwise comparison procedures were used to analyze surveys about trust, concerns and vaccinations amid a pandemic. The results indicate that more respondents were worried about getting COVID-19 than getting the seasonal flu and that respondents from the US were less willing to get a COVID-19 vaccine as compared with other countries.