Topic: 2025 – Vaccine Access and Distribution
Country: Turkey
Delegate Name: Murphy Hawk
Committee- World Health Organization
Country- Türkiye
Delegate- Murphy Hawk
Vaccine Access and Distribution
After COVID-19 the world began to realize how much of a lack there is when it comes to the distributions and accessibility to vaccines. As vaccinations made a rise, the lower-income areas were facing the struggle of even getting 75% of their people just the first shot. This issue did not just start from COVID-19, but the lack of medical access has been present for years. Vaccine equity is a term that is used to describe the necessity it is for medication to be distributed fairly and efficiently without discriminations against a country’s economic status. This is what people are struggling with. Bigger, stronger nations are creating these medical solutions and not forming an efficient and fair way of handing them out, leaving many poverty-stricken, smaller countries struggling (Global). The data on how and where vaccines should be given is always changing and adapting due to many outside factors but that is a system that is crucial to master because people cannot be left in the dark. Another branch to this issue is that as lower-incomes are administered the vaccines slower it is leaving them more vulnerable to variants and variations of diseases that already exist like COVID-19. The longer it takes for medication and treatment to be given, the more time a disease has to spread, and the harder it is to catch up (Global).
When looking at Türkiye, the issue is not necessarily the lack of vaccines but the refusal to receive the vaccination by the citizens. Whether its families not wanting their children to get the shots or just adults in general who feel they do not need or want it, the highest reason for not vaccinated individuals is just the refusal to get it all together (Özceylan,). Studies show that 23,000 people in Türkiye were unvaccinated in 2017, and that number has only increased. This is an incredibly unique situation because the citizens could have the vaccination that they need to treat a wide spreading disease but are just making the choice not to. The reason for the hesitation comes from the people not trusting the companies that are putting out and supplying the vaccines. Many of the people have investigated and educated themselves in these companies and are finding reasons not to trust the medication they are putting out. As news of these spreads, it influences many other people to also then not get the vaccination (Özceylan,).
To start, the main goal needs to be a focus on just supplying the people with the vaccines at a much more efficient manner. A vaccination organization can focus just on the data alone of all the changing countries economics and statistics to see where and when the medicine should go out. Then teams of medical volunteers will go in to give the people the vaccines and medication as needed. This will also help to eliminate any distrust because it comes as a collaborative organization that is working towards the greater good of the people, not looking for any financial boost or takeaway. The people can be educated on what vaccines they need and how to get them as well as teaching people the signs they should be looking for in specific illnesses. Education can be brought in as courses you can take to learn more about vaccination as well as information books or packets that can be distributed to those who want to learn more. This will provide the citizens and struggling countries with the resources they need to help their people and bring accessibility to all.
Work cited
Global Dashboard for vaccine equity: Data Futures Exchange. UNDP. (n.d.). https://data.undp.org/insights/vaccine-equity
Özceylan, G., Toprak, D., & Esen, E. S. (2020, May 3). Vaccine rejection and hesitation in Turkey. Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7227707/
