- The cost to vaccinate 3.8 billion eligible people in poor countries is US$9.3 billion.
- The world's top 5 billionaires saw their wealth grow by a combined US$409 billion since the pandemic started in January 2020.
- The global economy stands to lose US$9 trillion if lower-income countries are not vaccinated.
Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Bernard Arnault, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg have all seen their personal fortunes rise by a combined US$409 billion since the pandemic began.
Which means, just 2% of this growth in their net wealth would cover the cost of vaccinating the eligible adult population in the world?s lowest income countries.
The cost to vaccinate the adult population of the world?s lowest income countries in 2021 would be $9.3 billion according to the Rockefeller foundation - a global charitable foundation.
There are 92 countries representing about 3.8 billion people that are eligible for vaccine access through Gavi - the vaccine alliance.
But failing to vaccinate people in the lower-income countries will come at a higher cost, not only in monetary terms but in the cost of human life.
The world?s economy stands to lose more than $9 trillion if lower-income countries are not able to access vaccines according to the international chamber of commerce.
Looking at the Forbes global billionaires list, the number of billionaires exploded to reach 2755 over the last year.
Throughout the pandemic 660 newcomers were added to the world billionaires list and the combined net worth of all 2755 topped US$13 trillion.
The net worth of Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, skyrocketed by 740% from US$27bn in January 2020 to US$227bn in October 2021.
The world?s second-richest man and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos experienced a 54% increase in net income over the pandemic, from US$124 billion in January 2020 to US$191 billion in October 2021.
The net worth of the world?s third richest man and CEO of LVMH Bernard Arnault jumped 62% over the pandemic to US$184 billion.
Microsoft founder and the world?s fourth-richest man, Bill Gates boasts a net worth of US$124 billion in 2021 - an increase of 26.5% since the pandemic began.
Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg was worth US$77.6 billion in January 2020. Fast forward to October 2021 and the tech entrepreneur is now worth US$122 billion.
The increase in the combined net worth of these top 5 billionaires during the pandemic comes to a total of US$409 billion.