Global governance

The Economic Case for Global Vaccinations

  • 25 January 2021

The Economic Case for Global Vaccinations

An ICC Research Foundation commissioned study showing that advanced economies stand to lose USD trillions through vaccine nationalism.

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A study commissioned by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Research Foundation has found that the global economy stands to lose as much as US$9.2 trillion if governments fail to ensure developing economy access to COVID-19 vaccines. The COVID-19 pandemic had a devastating effect on both lives and livelihoods in 2020. The arrival of effective vaccines can be a major game changer in mitigating the economic, social and health consequences of the virus in the year ahead. However, evidence to date suggests that access to these vaccines is likely to be highly uneven across countries. Advanced economies have in recent months pursued a policy of securing the global supply of frontrunner vaccines – as a result severely limiting their availability in emerging markets. Moreover, the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator – the proven global platform to enable equitable access to COVID-19 test, treatments and vaccines – remains underfunded by the world’s largest economies, constraining its ability to procure vaccines at scale for the developing world. A new study highlights the major risks to the global economy inherent in this uncoordinated approach to vaccine access. Using a sophisticated model – that builds upon an earlier NBER and IMF Working Paper – to properly the assess the economic toll of a prolonged pandemic, the research shows that no economy can recover fully from the COVID-19 pandemic until vaccines are equally accessible in all countries. In short, advanced economies that can vaccinate all of their citizens are shown to remain at risk of a sluggish recovery with a drag on GDP if infection continues to spread unabated in emerging markets. These losses dwarf the donor finance needed to enable vaccines to be procured for everyone, everywhere – making a clear “investment case” for full capitalization of the ACT Accelerator and a coordinated global approach to distribution.