In: Economics
Assume that Bangladesh has found a vaccine for coronavirus. Discuss how Bangladesh will face the problem of scarcity when distributing the vaccine among the population. Discuss in detail the effects of scarcity in this case.
Scarcity is the basis of economics. The needs of individuals are unlimited but the resources are limited which forces us to allocate resources to the best possible use.
Assuming that Bangladesh has found the vaccine for coronavirus, there are several cases involved, which depends on a number of factors like the cost of the vaccine, the number of patients, etc and hence there would be tradeoff between choices.
If the vaccine is costly and out of reach of a majority of the population, especially the poor, then it would be a tradeoff between equity and efficiency. The firm producing it would want the best price, given the efforts put in it etc, while the people or the government would want to make the vaccine available at a reasonable price.
Another factor would be the population infected with the disease. If there are many cases, wherein the vaccine is the only form of treatment and the people are not recovering themselves, then there would be tradeoff as to which person the vaccine should be given. The factors involved could be co-morbidities, age etc.
Also if majority of the people are getting well without the vaccine, then the tradeoff would be less as the severely ill people would only be given the vaccine. Also there might be the tradeoff between exporting the vaccine or using it for the people of Bangladesh.
Hence there are several factors which would be included when the vaccine is produced since it would be scarce given the huge size of the population.
(You can comment for doubts)