Resources or trust: What matters more in the vaccination strategies of high-income liberal democracies?

OBJECTIVES

This paper presents an overview of the vaccination policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in Denmark, Canada, and the United States until September 1, 2021. The article seeks to understand the reasons for vaccination differences among high-income, liberal democracies.

METHODS

The country cases were selected based on tiers of population-level vaccination uptake within six months after vaccines became broadly available (for high-income countries). We conducted a rapid review of primary data for each country case. Through a graphical and descriptive analysis, we evaluated common patterns as well as significant divergences in the vaccination rollout across countries and its relationship with COVID-19 health outcomes, government policy responses, resource constraints, and socio-political factors. This inductive analysis provides a sense of how resource constraints compare with current political contexts in each country case that may influence the public's response to a national vaccination strategy.

RESULTS

Resources, socio-economic factors, and health outcomes related to COVID-19 do not ensure vaccination policy success as the case of the United States makes clear. Instead, trust in government and health systems appear to promise a higher vaccination uptake and maintained support for measures during a pandemic. Trust in government can be defined as the confidence citizens have that governmental actions will do what is right and perceived as fair.

CONCLUSION

Denmark, the United States, and Canada are high-income liberal democracies with very different vaccine strategies and subsequently different vaccination outcomes across their populations. What appears to be critical to successful vaccination outcomes is high trust in government or health officials, along with the depoliticization of the COVID-19 pandemic among the country's political parties.