Slow vaccination will cost the global economy two trillion dollars

The slow vaccination against the new coronavirus will cost the global economy as a whole $ 2.3 trillion (1.96 trillion euros). This was shown on Wednesday by a report by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), the research and analytical division of the Economist Group. According to the EIU study, this loss will be borne mainly by transforming and developing economies, where vaccination lags far behind richer countries. The report comes at a time when developed countries are moving to provide a third dose of vaccine to their populations, while international efforts to provide vaccines to poorer countries are not making the necessary progress. The study calculated that countries that do not have 60% of their population vaccinated by mid-2022 will suffer losses of € 2 trillion between 2022 and 2025. "Developing countries will bear about two-thirds of these losses, further delaying their economic convergence with more developed countries," the EIU said. She also warned that falling behind vaccination could provoke resentment and increase the risk of social unrest in developing economies. In absolute terms, the Asia-Pacific region will be hardest hit, accounting for almost three-quarters of the losses. However, in the case of the percentage of gross domestic product (GDP), sub-Saharan Africa will suffer the worst losses. Approximately 60% of the population in higher-income countries received at least one dose of the new coronavirus vaccine by the end of August, compared with only 1% in the poorest countries. Two doses of the vaccine are needed to control the coronavirus. Report author Agathe Demarais said that international efforts to provide vaccines against the new coronavirus to poor countries - Covax - have not met even modest expectations. "There is little chance that the gap in access to vaccines will ever be bridged, because rich countries provide only a fraction of what is needed," she said in a statement. "Finally, in advanced economies, attention is shifting to the administration of a booster third dose of coronavirus vaccine," she added, noting that this would be exacerbated by raw material shortages and supply chain tensions. The EIU said it combined its own forecasts for time vaccination schemes with GDP growth forecasts in around 200 countries as part of the study.