Within the season about "Inequality", in episode #33 of the IDP's Economy and Public Policies podcast, Economisto, the topic covered was “Vaccines”. Professor Pedro Nery welcomed the guest Thomas Victor Conti, doctor in economics, data scientist, professor at Insper and the professional master's degree at the Institute of Public Law ( IDP-SP ), partner and CEO of AED Consulting and academic director of the Brazilian Association of Law and Economics (ABDE) and member of the Brazilian Jurimetrics Association (ABJ).
What costs more, vaccinating or not vaccinating?
The first topic covered in the episode about vaccines is the big and popular question: Are vaccines expensive? Is it more expensive to vaccinate or not to vaccinate?
Thomas Conti gave an overview of the prices of vaccines on the market today and reported that a vaccine can vary between R$25.00 and R$150.00 per dose. Analyzing the cost of not vaccinating the population, on the other hand, it can reach R$1,900.00 per person.
A conservative non-vaccination account, considering probable costs and basing its values on the lowest averages, including expenses such as testing for COVID-19 (around R$150.00), medical consultation (around R$50.00 by the System Unified Health System), possible hospitalization of people in a more serious condition (around R$1,600.00 per day and per person), loss of production capacity of the population leading to a possible absence of 10 to 15 days (around R$500.00) and the cost of a possible death.
Therefore, the cost of not vaccinating the population is much greater than the cost of vaccinating. By vaccinating 200 million people, the government would spend around R$400 billion. Last year, just in public deficit, we had around R$800 billion during the pandemic.
“There is no expensive vaccine on the market today, what is expensive is not having a vaccine available” says Thomas Conti.
Private Sector Role in Vaccination
Another point discussed in the episode was the possibility of private vaccination and Thomas explains that the private sector could assist in the process of vaccinating the population without this meaning charging those who are vaccinated. In other words, just as has been done in the United States, an agreement between the State and the Private Sector is possible so that it cooperates with the vaccination campaign and is paid exclusively by the State. Thomas explains that an agreement of this type, where costs were covered, would not be expensive for the State and could speed up mass vaccination. It is important not to confuse the actions of the private sector with demands to administer vaccines.
Private infrastructure is mobilized annually in Brazil in the flu vaccination campaign. Therefore, a debate regarding the possibility of private sector involvement in the vaccination campaign against COVID-19 would be important.
On the other hand, the real possibility that the private system will be able to purchase these vaccines in the first half of 2021 is more complex than it seems, even involving diplomatic issues. However, as there is a possibility of an oversupply of vaccines in developed countries in the second half of the year, this scenario becomes more possible from the second half of the year onwards.
Accountability for vaccines
In the penultimate part of the episode, the issue of the vaccine contract clause regarding the non-accountability of producing laboratories was addressed, which has been widely discussed currently. Thomas emphasizes that the laboratory cannot be held responsible solely for these extremely rare side effects, but can be held responsible for other points such as correct production of the vaccine, omission of information about adverse effects. This system is even recommended by the WHO, so that bad faith judicialization of vaccine production is avoided.
These clauses arose to protect laboratories from possible legal proceedings arising from people who suffered side effects not arising from the vaccine or adverse effects so rare that they could not be predicted or avoided by the vaccine, even if it were perfectly safe.
Currently, thousands of people around the world have been vaccinated against COVID-19. In the case of the Pfizer vaccine, for example, only five people per one million had any mild adverse side effects, demonstrating the safety of the vaccines.
Did the Federal Government pedal the vaccines?
Thomas says that when he saw the news that the Brazilian private sector had purchased 33 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine and that half of them would be donated to the SUS. However, this laboratory already has pre-agreements for the largest number of sales in the world and deliveries of these vaccines are delayed worldwide. Come and discover the excitement of online casino gaming in the comfort of your own home! With discover , you will have access to a wide variety of entertainment options, from slots to table games, for all tastes. Register now and start playing for your chance to win big prizes!
The hypothesis that Thomas raised about the “Vaccine Pedal” would be that these 33 million doses were part of the batch that the government itself had already negotiated to purchase. The Government has 100 million pre-agreed doses and would then have ceded the right to purchase 33 million of them to the private sector. This would be a plausible hypothesis based on the analysis of the letter sent to the laboratory by the Brazilian Government. Therefore, the Government would be selling its purchase rights and this would also explain how the donation of half of these doses back to the SUS was imposed.
To listen to this analysis in more depth, listen to episode #33: Vaccines, with Thomas Conti from the Economisto podcast, click here .
