Testing the relationship between democratic accountability and the approved use of inactivated COVID-19 vaccines: Evidence from 194 countries

Authors

  • Poowin Bunyavejchewin Thammasat University Research Unit in History and International Politics, Institute of East Asian Studies, Thammasat University, Rangsit Campus, Pathum Thani 12121, Thailand
  • Porntep Kamonpetch Department of Information Management, School of Management, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei 106335, Taiwan
  • Ketsarin Sirichuanjun Institute for Urban Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Disease Control, Bangkok 10220, Thailand

Keywords:

COVID-19 vaccines, democracy, democratic accountability, government accountability, inactivated COVID-19 vaccines

Abstract

Rapidly inoculating populations with efficacious vaccines is key to ending the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. This study attempts to identify political determinants that could explain how governments worldwide chose the main COVID-19 vaccines used in their countries. Specifically, it provides a quantitative examination of the association between democratic accountability (i.e., democratic regime type and government accountability) and approved usage of inactivated COVID-19 vaccines (namely, CoronaVac, BBIBP-CorV, and WIBP-CorV) in 194 countries. This examination is conducted using the method of binary logistic regression. Results indicate that the use of such vaccines is negatively associated with government accountability. Conversely, democracies have a higher tendency to approve the use of this vaccine type. This implies that governments with greater accountability, regardless of their political nature, tend to have better COVID-19 vaccine policies, viz., procuring higher-quality COVID-19 vaccines for mass vaccination

Downloads

Published

15-03-2023

How to Cite

Bunyavejchewin, P. ., Kamonpetch, P. ., & Sirichuanjun, K. . (2023). Testing the relationship between democratic accountability and the approved use of inactivated COVID-19 vaccines: Evidence from 194 countries. Kasetsart Journal of Social Sciences, 44(1), 1–8. Retrieved from https://so04.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/kjss/article/view/264441

Issue

Section

Research articles