"Haste makes waste". An ethical analysis of the COVID-19 vaccine: Development, allocation and hesitation

Abstract

The development of a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 that can stop the spread of the infection has been postulated as the definitive response to end the COVID-19 pandemic. Far from being free of ethical conflicts, the introduction of a new vaccine in a situation of social, political and economic instability reactivates the tension among institutional power, people's autonomy and the dynamics of global markets. This requires an ethical analysis that includes conflicts in the field of vaccine research and development, glob- al justice in vaccine distribution, prioritization decisions when the supply of vaccines does not meet demand and the positions that should be taken by public institutions to address vaccine hesitancy among people who either do not want to take the vaccine or raise doubts about it.