Compaison of COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates in OECD Member Countries And Taiwan

Compaison of COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates in OECD Member Countries And Taiwan

Vaccination is one of the most effective countermeasures against the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, a proportion of the people in each society continue to refuse vaccination for reasons other than medical exemption. When the vaccine supply is sufficient enough, the primary ethical concern is then switched from the priority order of vaccinations to what extent the government should implement vaccine mandates to incentivize, urge, or even require these people to be vaccinated. We adopted the intervention ladder framework to compare the practices of mandatory vaccinations in the member countries of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) by the end of year 2021. We found that the most frequently adopted measurement was the soft disincentive, prominently the requirement of an universally certified vaccination pass at the designated sites. The second frequently adopted one was the strong disincentive, focusing on specific subpopulations according to the risk of transmission or severity if infected. Only a few countries adopted strict punishments, in which refusals might lead to fines, imprisonment, or dismissal from work. No country has adopted coercive vaccination. The mandatory vaccination policy is still evolving along with the dynamic of the COVID-19 pandemic and constantly being challenged by the public and with judicial approaches. The experiences of vaccine mandates in the OECD member countries are summarized in the article and might be informative for policymaking for the health authority in Taiwan.