International Military Vaccination Efforts During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Literature Review

Abstract

Introduction:

The COVID-19 pandemic created a public health crisis worldwide. Mass vaccination efforts in some cases were initiated without adequate civilian manpower due to critical medical staffing shortages. The governments of many nations deployed their military assets to fill gaps in care and to initiate projects to promote vaccinations. The COVID-19 pandemic created a unique international military vaccination response to an infectious disease disaster.

This literature review highlights creative solutions, abilities utilized, projects completed, overall effectiveness, and lessons learned by the military community worldwide to support their vaccination efforts within their countries. By collating this information into a single document, the collective global experience can be better analyzed and this information utilized to develop a framework for future disaster preparedness and mitigation planning efforts.

Method:

Medline (PubMed), GoogleScholar and the JSTOR Security Studies collection were searched for English language articles from January 1, 2020 and onwards. Keywords used included civil-military coordination, military, COVID-19, vaccination, vaccine. Titles were initially screened for relevance. The abstracts were then reviewed for a decision on inclusion. Article inclusion was determined by author consensus based on relevance to the objectives. Key papers were also hand searched for additional unidentified references.

Results:

Data collection and analysis planned for completion by January 2023.

Conclusion:

The COVID-19 pandemic created a public health need for mass vaccination distribution that was assisted by militaries throughout the world. This literature search demonstrates the ways in which military resources contributed to COVID-19 vaccination efforts, including creative techniques, successes and opportunities for future improvement.