Model Outlines the Cost of Vaccinating the World and the Human Cost of Doing Otherwise

A new model shows that vaccinating inhabitants of lower-middle and lower-income countries would save between 1.2 to 1.5 million lives at the cost of $35 to $61 billion. The results, which are in pre-print and awaiting peer review, bolster demands on highly-vaccinated countries to ramp up their efforts to distribute more vaccines in economically disadvantaged countries. A co-author of the study argues this price is far lower than expected.

According to Adam Taylor of The Washington Post, “That number, based on estimates for the number of vaccinations as well as estimated production and delivery costs of mRNA vaccines from the WHO and other organizations, varied considerably. At its highest, it would be $81,500 per life saved. At its lowest, $7,400. Either price would be considerably lower estimates used by the U.S. federal government to show the monetary value of a single life — more than $10 million in one estimate.”

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(Source: The Washington Post, February 10^th, 2022)