Abstract
The accentuated digital transformation and the unprecedented worldwide collaboration, as results of the COVID-19 pandemic changes and the COVID-19 crisis challenges, have generated noteworthy concerns in terms of individuals' health and well-being in the light of the development of vaccines and in the attempt to understand better vaccination willingness. The case of vaccination willingness has been addressed in the powerful context generated by the influence of the Sustainable Development Goals, with a preeminent accent on health and well-being, while emphasizing that the pandemic has accentuated the inequalities between people in terms of vaccine distribution and has irreversibly transformed the approach of the society in terms of decision-making in matters related to health, society, and economy. The economic growth and the economy recovery of all countries have proven highly dependent on the success of the COVID-19 vaccines and the fiscal and the monetary support programs.
TopIntroduction
Nowadays, specialists worldwide are becoming more and more acquainted with the changes, disruptions, and implications of the COVID-19 pandemic in the society. In the same line, leaders all around the globe are becoming more and more aware of the challenges, commitments, and opportunities that the COVID-19 crisis has brought in terms of health, diplomacy, world peace, and international cooperation.
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which are regarded as crucial according to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), have mainly centered on 17 targets or objectives due to ensure a better and a more sustainable future for the generations due to come (United Nations (UN), 2015). On the list of these 17 decisive goals can be found the “Good Health and Well-Being” objective, which represents the third target according to the United Nations Agenda presented in the year 2015 (United Nations (UN), 2015). Even though, over time, specialists have managed to find different cures for several threatening and dangerous diseases, which made life expectancy increase over the years in a dramatically manner, there are numerous threats on individuals health and well-being. The rhythm of life and people’s expectations have severely changed in the last decades, which placed stress and pollutions on one of the top positions in terms of life threatening day to day circumstances. Going further with our analysis, it ought to be noted that pollution and rapid environmental degradation lead inevitably to severe health deterioration and alteration. In this matter, the COVID-19 pandemic came as a warning of what might the future bring in a more aggressive manner and in different circumstances, in terms of time and place. The 2030 Agenda part of the United Nations Development Program focuses on the importance of “good health” as well as on the power of ecosystems sustainability, in an attempt to show the complexity that resides between sustainable development, strong health, and well-being. There are overpowering connections that may be encountered at all levels between the environment, individuals’ health, and the evolution of life on Planet Earth.
Besides all these, it should be highlighted that the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the COVID-19 crisis have generated serious disruptions in the process of accomplishing the United Nations (UN) third objective centered on “Good Health and Well-Being”, since the economic and social inequalities have been dangerously widened, while the spread of this new form of virus led to climate and environmental destabilization, and alarming increases in the rate of poverty. In this matter, it can be noticed that building good health for all remains a priority for the 2030 Agenda part of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and a bold desiderate for the present and the future generations.
In this pressing matter, the researchers and the specialists all around the Globe are trying to find viable ways in which people could manage to cope with COVID-19 while focusing on good health and well-being, showing a great interest in analyzing and in understanding the vaccination willingness – since the vaccines have proven of substantial help in saving lives and in keeping the number of the infected individuals at lower levels.
There are several key aspects that this scientific book chapter intends to highlight, given the particular attention that this theme has drawn at present moment, as follows in the lines below:
Step 1: This book chapter centers on addressing the importance of good health and well-being in a society that calls for immediate action in terms of reaffirming the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as well as their importance for the entire humanity.
Step 2: In the same line, this book chapter focuses on finding solutions capable to enable individuals to cope with COVID-19 while focusing on good health and well-being, while analyzing vaccination willingness, while displaying an analysis on the publicly available microdata from the World Bank’s COVID-19 High Frequency Phone Survey of Households (2021-Round 4).
Step 3: In like manner, this book chapter tackles the COVID-19 pandemic changes as well as the COVID-19 crisis challenges on today’s society, while striving to find solutions for the Post-COVID-19 Era sustainable development, sustainable economic growth, and good and strong health for all.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Good Health and Well-Being: This represents the third objective or target stipulated by the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which positions individuals’ state of being, at both at physical and at mental level, on the top of the priorities; even though life expectancy has increased over time due to the tremendous medical progress in finding solutions for some of the major causes of illnesses and death, our Planet is continuously threatened by irresponsible actions and activities that have overbearing implications on people’s lives, health, and well-being; in essence, the 2030 Agenda clearly suggests that sustainable development (SD) and good health are interconnected and go hand-in-hand, depending one on the other (UN, 2015).
Health and Sustainability: These days, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have successfully managed to place individuals’ health and the Planet’s sustainable development needs and desires as top priorities in terms of all actions and all activities that ought to be taken at an international level, thus ensuring a better and a more secure for all the generations to come; in continuation, health and sustainability have the power to promote robust, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, in a world that calls for sustainable business and sustainable finance.
Sustainable Development Solutions (SDS): The 2022 Sustainable Development Report (SDR) entitled “From Crisis to Sustainable Development, the SDGs as Roadmap to 2030 and Beyond”, published on the 2 nd of June 2022, states that “peace, diplomacy, and international cooperation are fundamental conditions for the world to progress”, and, in the same manner, stresses the fact that for two years in a row the world has not registered any new process in terms of reaching the UN proposed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) ( SDSN, 2022 ).
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are known, also, at an international level, as the Global Goals, being part of the United Nations (UN) Agenda which has led to their adoption in the year 2015; due to their overwhelming and overpowering importance in our society, the 17 goals that were included by the UN on their Agenda have required, over time, immediate attention and a high level of responsibility from all the involved parties, in order to be able to learn how to manage better and more constructively economic, social, and environmental shocks and disasters, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the COVID-19 crisis (UN, 2015).
Sustainable Development (SD): Is being defined by specialists worldwide as a particular, most needed and most desired form of development that focuses on sustainability in a way that enables today’s society to take into consideration the needs of the present generations without altering the future of the next generations, by also finding solutions to ensure the best possible life conditions to the next generations that will soon inhabit our Planet Earth.
Vaccines for Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19): The World Health Organization (WHO) published on the 17 th of May 2022 an updated list of vaccines for Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) which includes nine validated for use types by WHO (given Emergency Use Listing), stating the specialists’ strong belief that by being part of the vaccination process individuals could save their own lives as well as the lives of others, due to the fact that “COVID-19 vaccines provide strong protection against serious illness, hospitalization and death” ( WHO, 2022b ).
Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19): According to the World Health Organization (WHO) this form of disease, known as Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19), represents an infectious disease that has been caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus and which is characterized by “mild to moderate respiratory illness” that individuals experience; based on specialists findings, this form of disease might be contracted by individuals at any age and depending on the case, individuals might develop less aggressive or more aggressive forms ( WHO, 2022a ).