As wealthy nations rolled out COVID-19 vaccination campaigns at speed in early 2021, Haiti found itself almost entirely excluded from access to vaccines, lacking the purchasing power, the institutional capacity, and the political stability needed to negotiate and manage a vaccination program. The stark contrast between Haiti’s situation and that of countries that were rapidly vaccinating their populations illustrated the profound global inequity in pandemic response.
Haiti was among the last countries in the Western Hemisphere to receive any COVID vaccines, with an initial allocation through the COVAX global sharing mechanism arriving months behind the schedules of neighboring Caribbean nations. The delay reflected both global supply constraints that prioritized wealthier nations and Haiti-specific challenges including cold chain infrastructure limitations and the logistical difficulties of managing vaccine distribution in an environment of political instability and insecurity.
Public health advocates expressed frustration that a country whose healthcare system was already at breaking point, whose population had high rates of malnutrition and comorbidities that increased COVID severity risk, and whose formal testing and treatment capacity was minimal was being left to last in the queue for vaccines that could reduce the burden on its overwhelmed health system.
When vaccines did eventually arrive, the rollout faced additional challenges: vaccine hesitancy rooted in distrust of government institutions, logistical difficulties reaching communities outside the capital, and the cold chain requirements of mRNA vaccines that were particularly challenging in Haiti’s unreliable electricity environment. The COVID vaccination experience in Haiti became a case study in how global health equity failures manifested in practice.