Professor Kalemli-Ozcan has recently joined a World Health Organization press conference with WHO Director General Dr. Tedros and other doctors to explain the economic case for an equitable global vaccine distribution.

Prof. Kalemli-Ozcan and co-authors estimate that the economic costs of an unequal global vaccine distribution, relative to a counterfactual of global vaccinations, can be as high as 4 trillion USD in 2021, where half of these costs will be borne out by advanced economies, even if they achieve universal vaccination early in 2021. The study incorporates sectoral infection dynamics and sectoral trade and production network using 65 countries and 35 sectors.

The study was covered by the Financial Times and New York Times. Prof. Kalemli-Ozcan explained the results at a WHO press conference Jan. 25th 2021 and on February 10th 2021 for NBER and Voxeu.