On March 4, Michael Kremer presented his recent research during the South Asia Economic Policy Network Conference’s keynote lecture. The 7th South Asia Economic Policy Network Conference on Vaccinating South Asia convened leading scholars to present papers related to vaccine policy in the region.

 

About the Conference

Vaccinating South Asia against COVID-19 will provide the surest path to economic recovery, but many practical issues in vaccinating South Asia remain to be addressed. Preliminary estimates suggest that accelerating the end of the pandemic through a vaccine by only one month could have benefits of $43 billion in South Asia alone. Good news regarding at least three vaccine candidates has encouraged hope globally that the pandemic may be close to an end, but many issues remain, including bottlenecks in supply chains and production, issues related to allocation of scarce vaccine and equity, and the fiscal impacts that purchasing and delivering a COVID-19 vaccine broadly will have on South Asian governments.