Vaccine difference might cost the global economy trillions

The Economist Intelligence Unit reported that the world economy might lose trillions in GDP as a result of delayed vaccination. Emerging economies are having most of the losses because of the uneven rollout.

The EIU predicted that countries that cannot vaccinate around 60% of their population by 2022 would lose approximately $2.4 trillion between 2022 and 2025.

According to the EIU’s global forecasting director, developing countries will experience around two-thirds of losses. This will delay their economic development compared with more developed countries.

Overview

In absolute terms, Asia will see the most significant losses. Losses are likely to reach around $1.8 trillion, or 1.3% of the region’s forecasted GDP. According to the report, countries in Africa will lose approximately 4% of their forecasted GDP, which is the highest in percentage terms. 

These estimates seem surprising, but it is only partly captured in the long term. The EIU said that it did not include the pandemic’s effect on education in this forecast.

More developed countries chose remote learning during lockdowns, but many did not have that option in the developing world.

According to the data collected by Johns Hopkins University, more than 214 million people were infected with Covid-19. At least 4.5 million of the 214 million died during the pandemic.

Rich nations are far ahead in terms of the Covid vaccination rates, moving toward reopening their economies, while poorer countries are far behind in the speed to get vaccinated.

According to the Data, there are around 5 billion administered doses globally, but only 15.03 million in low-income countries.

The EIU report said that Vaccination campaigns experience progress globally in lower-income economies.

The report also said that the lack of vaccination emerged because of logistical difficulties, a lack of production capacity with vaccine materials.