'Other patients become a secondary priority:' perceptions of Estonian frontline healthcare professionals on the influence of COVID-19 on health (in)equality and ethical decision-making. (Special Issue: COVID-19 and health inequities: insights from communication research and practice.)

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has posed many challenges to societies, individual healthcare systems and global public health. Manifestations of increasing health inequalities, social stigmatization and challenging ethical decision-making have been previously noticed. The aim of this article is to analyse the perceptions of frontline healthcare professionals regarding the potential impact of COVID-19 on the provision of healthcare services and the ethical challenges it may entail. Method: This research is a part of a larger research project which was conducted among frontline healthcare professionals in Estonia and used both quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection. In this article, answers to specific open-ended questions from the questionnaire (n = 116) and in-depth interviews (n = 8) were analysed. For data analysis, inductive content analysis was used. The research was granted ethical approval.