27 May
Joseph Gagnon, economist and senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE), shared an article on the economic costs and benefits of accelerated Covid-19 vaccinations.
He stated that the seemingly workable cost saving measures for vaccines not only cost lives and economic output, but cost the government more in lost tax revenue than they save upfront.
He further added that two illustrative scenarios supported the conclusion that the acceleration of Covid-19 vaccination programmes would reap economic benefits far greater than their costs.
For instance, the Policy Brief highlighted that if the US adopted a more aggressive policy of unconditional contract with vaccine producers in 2020, it would have to bear the upfront cost, but more lives would have been saved and the economy would have been more resilient.