Between Prior Experience and Tabula Rasa. The COVID-19 Immunization Plan
Keywords:
COVID-19, Immunization Plan, Capability Building, Heterologous Schedule, Risk PerceptionAbstract
By departing from two specific conceptualizations—one concerning the structure of the pharmaceutical industry and, another one, regarding the Argentine healthcare system—we seek to examine the implementation process of the Strategic Plan for COVID-19 Vaccination in the Republic of Argentina during 2020 and 2021. Drawing on interviews and secondary data sources, the study, first, aims to analyze the progressive implementation of this plan within the framework of the two aforementioned conceptualizations and, second, to account for the conglomerate of the deployed strategies for that purpose. The analysis contrasts invariant elements emerging from these initial discussions—which form the backdrop to any Argentinian health policy—with the array of strategies implemented during the pandemic. This article argues that it is as inaccurate to claim that the implementation of the Vaccination Plan relied solely on accumulated experience, as it is to believe that the largest vaccination campaign in Argentine history was planned from tabula rasa. Lessons related to the gradual deployment of a complex set of multiple, as well as simultaneous strategies, within a context of scarcity and asymmetrical accumulation, constitute the main contribution of this article.
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