Evaluation of the Performance of World Countries' Health Systems in the Face of COVID-19 in Respect of Vaccination Role

Background: Since the beginning of the COVID-19 epidemic, many countries have been involved in fighting the disease. The outbreak of the disease has caused irrecoverable damages to countries in various aspects such as human resources, economic situation, and social welfare. This study aimed to evaluate the performance of world countries in the face of COVID-19 in respect of the role of vaccination and to propose applicable approaches for countries with lower performance.

Methods. This research developed a three-phase method to evaluate the performance of 88 countries in the face of COVID-19. In the first phase, we clustered the countries using the k-means algorithm. In the second phase, we implemented data envelopment analysis (DEA) once on the clusters and then on all the countries without considering the clusters. In the third phase, after presentation of the concept of resilience in the COVID-19 era, an Analytic Hierarchy Process was implemented with three criteria, including the results of DEA model without considering the clusters, the results of DEA model considering the clusters and resilience, and then the ranking of the countries' performance in the face of COVID-19 was provided.
Results. Based on the results, 15 performance ratings were assigned to the countries in the face of COVID-19, with China, Fiji, Seychelles, Kyrgyzstan, and Tanzania receiving the best ranks, while Bangladesh, Nepal, Georgia, and Pakistan received the lowest. Iran is ranked sixth with an average performance among the countries.
Conclusion. Based on the findings of this study, countries with low performance level in the face of COVID-19 need to apply various strategies in different areas to improve their performance level. These strategies include planning and approving joint programs to control and prevent the spread of disease, applying quarantine policy and restrictions on communities, planning and implementing appropriate strategies regarding the export and import of drugs and medical equipment, allocating adequate funds to research projects on COVID-19, prohibiting the export of drugs effective in the treatment of COVID-19, and promoting awareness by offering accurate and up-to-date information