Juggling Dynamite

As governments target 70% minimum vaccination bogies for their populations, recipient willingness is presumed but, according to several recent surveys, not assured.  As shown in the chart below from surveys completed between August and October 31, appetite in Canada, the US, China and Russia remains sub-target even if shots are prescribed by law.

Economist Danielle Goldfarb adds this context:

Perhaps the most important factor determining the shape of the economic recovery will be whether and when enough people take a COVID vaccine to achieve herd immunity. Canada has a strong economic stake not only in its own citizens getting vaccinated but in global vaccination and global economic recovery. With a relatively small domestic market, Canadian livelihoods depend heavily on U.S. and global exports, international students, and tourists.

Vaccines on their own don’t save lives; widespread vaccinations do. The data in this chart show notable skepticism about vaccines in Canada, the U.S., and other countries, even in the face of the pandemic’s major economic and social disruptions. They reflect broad-based sentiment including opinions of those who are not typical survey takers nor express their pro- or anti-vaccination views on social media, and they were collected anonymously to maximize the chances of honesty on such a sensitive topic.

The compounding impacts of CO2 emissions will be an escalating cost for years to come, everything governments do now to support struggling sectors and stimulate spending during the pandemic should move us toward the larger imperative of sustainable resource management. This is especially true since we are piling on debt to pay for this support.  If funds spent now do not help to reduce future costs and waste, then our future will just get harder and harder to fund.

As much of the aviation industry fights to survive the coronavirus pandemic, some economists and engineers see the crisis as an opportunity to use stimulus funds to propel air travel to a carbon-neutral future.  Here is a direct video link.

Governments missed a huge opportunity to rein in and reorder the bubble-inducing, law-abusing finance sector in 2009 when taxpayer funds were handed out to them virtually condition-free.  Similarly, auto bailouts in 2008 should have been tied to EV production timelines.  We have paid an ongoing price for mal-investment in both sectors since.  We can’t afford to keep making the same mistakes.

In this episode, Dr. Osterholm and host Chris Dall discuss the status of COVID-19 in the US post-Thanksgiving, ACIP recommendations for how vaccine distribution should be prioritized, potential timelines for vaccine distribution, shortening quarantine, and how to talk to children about the pandemic. Here is a direct video link.