International inequality in the fight against COVID-19 and its impacts on public spending

ABSTRACT The article aims to discuss the international inequality in the fight against COVID-19, showing the relatively late vaccine distribution to low-income countries, and the way the persistence of the pandemic, requiring assistance measures, impacted public expenditure. By means of a panel statistic model, it is evident that the increase in vaccination coverage reduced the necessity of imposing restrictive measures, which, in turn, made reducing public expenditure possible. It is concluded that the unequal international supply of vaccines is also related to the worsening of public accounts and the economic scenario, mainly for countries that are already financially constrained, probably contributing to the increase in international socioeconomic inequalities.