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Would improving COVID-19 vaccine access for poorer countries also benefit rich countries?

Friday, March 5, 2021
By Gus Fisher
YES

“Vaccine nationalism”—with countries rushing to secure access to COVID-19 vaccines for their own citizens—could be costly to global financial health as well as public health.

High-income countries accounting for 16% of the world’s population have bought 60% of COVID-19 doses, according to a January 2021 report from Duke University. World Health Organization experts say that inequitable access to the vaccine is only going to prolong the pandemic, and both poor and rich countries will suffer.

Vaccine nationalism could cost the global economy as much as $9.2 trillion, half of which would fall on advanced economies that rely on international trade, according to the International Chamber of Commerce. The World Economic Forum estimates that it would cost $25 billion to fully vaccinate low-income countries, while the cost of not doing so is $119 billion a year for high-income economies.

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