COUNTRIES with higher vaccination rates are likely to experience faster economic growth, according to economists from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
In an Asian Development Blog, ADB Economic Research and Regional Cooperation Department economist Irfan A. Qureshi and Senior Economist Matteo Lanzafame said since vaccinations began, their study revealed there were two recovery tracks.
The first track was observed in countries like China, the Republic of Korea and Singapore which saw them benefit from the recovery in international trade, and high vaccinations allowed them to contain the spread of Covid-19.
“Slow progress on vaccination or ineffective containment are the common characteristics shared by economies lagging behind, which have been largely unable to capitalize on the global recovery,” the economists said.
Higher vaccination rates allows countries to reduce the severity of disease, preventing deaths and hospitalization. This also helps governments ease restrictions, allowing for greater economic activities.
“Where vaccination coverage is relatively low, governments are forced to tighten restrictions if Covid-19 cases rise. As well as imposing severe constraints on contact-intensive activities, this results in disruptions to manufacturing and other export-sensitive sectors—for example, by causing labor shortages or factory shutdowns,” they added.
Based on the study, China has already administered 156.41 vaccine doses per 100 persons and saw its Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) increase to 50.2 while Korea administered 135.05 vaccine doses per 100 persons and its PMI improved to 51.2.
Among the Asean countries, Malaysia has administered the most vaccines at 142.13 per 100 persons, leading its PMI to improve to 50.9. This was followed by Thailand which has vaccinated 93.09 per 100 persons, and saw its PMI reach 50.1.
The Philippines, however, has vaccinated 47.8 per 100 persons, but has a PMI of 51.2. In the region, Myanmar, which has vaccinated 30.44 per 100 persons, had the lowest PMI at 43.7.
The economists said vaccinations should continue, especially in light of the omicron variant. This, they said, would be the only path to achieve a sustainable economic recovery this year.
“This new virus strain has the potential to dent growth and reinforce uneven progress in the region. While seemingly less lethal, the Omicron variant is significantly more transmissible than the previous strains. As a result, many economies in the region may need to resort once again to tighter restrictions—particularly those where vaccination coverage is still low,” the economists said.
Jabs: 114M so far
On Tuesday, the Palace reported 114.26 million vaccine doses have been administered. It added that the government was administering an average of 899,774 doses per day.
These doses were composed of 57.82 million first doses; 48.48 million were administered as second doses; 4.38 million were single doses; and 3.58 million were booster shots.
A total of 62.199 million Filipinos have received at least one dose while 52.86 million were considered fully vaccinated. The target population for vaccination is 111.57 million, based on the 2022 population estimates.