Global equitable access to the vaccine against the coronavirus can result in at least 153 billion dollars’ worth of profits for 10 major economies, a report by Eurasia Group said, as cited by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Hassan Damluji, the Deputy Director at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, said as quoted in the statement.
“The report, which was commissioned by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, finds that the economic benefits of a global equitable vaccine solution alone for the 10 countries included in the analysis would be at least 153 billion dollars in 2020-21. This will be rising to 466 billion dollars by 2025. This is more than 12 times the 38 billion dollars estimated total cost of the ACT Accelerator,” WHO said in a statement.
The report focuses on the economies of Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Qatar, South Korea, Sweden, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and the U.S. These ten countries have so far contributed 2.4 billion dollars to the ACT Accelerator, WHO said.
“The moral case for an equitable global solution to the COVID-19 crisis has always been clear, but with high-income countries reeling from a huge shock, their governments are increasingly focusing on investments that can help their own economies to rebound. This report adds to the body of evidence that shows that the ACT Accelerator is precisely one of those investments,” Damluji said.
The Access to COVID-19 tools accelerator is a collaborative effort that aims to speed up development, production and access to COVID-19 vaccines, tests, and treatment.
