Vaccine economics: Only pros, no cons

Vaccines are an amazing deal. Use the market to deliver more, more quickly

Last week’s Economist berates the G7, that recently met in Cornwall. Vaccinating two-thirds of the world by April 2022 would cost $50 billion, and provide a return of 17,000 per cent in four years.  Hundreds of thousands of lives would be saved and global output would be higher by $9 trillion. By committing 1 billion doses to the world, the G7 thought it had done a great thing. The Economist correctly points out that it has missed the investment opportunity of the century.

The same applies to India. This year’s Budget allocates Rs 35,000 crore for vaccines. The single locked-down month