Ep 223: The Economics and Politics of Vaccines

The second wave in India could have been avoided. We should not have been suffering like this. Vaccines were the answer. Ajay Shah joins Amit Varma in episode 223 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss how our thinking about vaccines was fundamentally flawed -- and what we should do now. Also discussed: why Indian healthcare is in such a mess. Also check out: 1. Indian Health Policy in Light of COVID-19 -- Ajay Shah's paper from July 14, 2020.  2. How the Vaccine Story Will Play Out -- Ajay Shah (Nov 30, 2020). 3. SARS-Cov-2 Vaccines for India -- Ajay Shah's presentation from December 29, 2020. 4. Price Controls for Vaccines? -- Ajay Shah (March 8, 2021). 5. Responding to the Second Wave -- Ajay Shah (April 5, 2021). 6. An Important Change of Course by Policy in Indian Covid-19 Vaccination -- Amrita Agarwal & Ajay Shah. 7. Vaccination in India: How Will Demand Change When Persons Above Age 18 Are Eligible? -- Renuka Sane & Ajay Shah. 8. The Best Way to Vaccinate Most Indians in the Least Time -- Shruti Rajagopalan (Sep 14, 2020). 9. Vaccinating India: What Next? -- Naushad Forbes (March 16, 2021). 10. India’s Covid Crisis Has a Familiar Culprit -- Mihir Sharma (April 13, 2021). 11. Biden Admin Remakes Vaccine Strategy -- Erin Banco (March 29, 2021). 12. NYT Covid Vaccinations Tracker. 13. Previous episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on Covid-19: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. 14. In Service of the Republic -- Vijay Kelkar and Ajay Shah. 15. The Art and Science of Economic Policy — Episode 154 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vijay Kelkar and Ajay Shah)   16. The Tragedy of Our Farm Bills -- Episode 211 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Ajay Shah). 17. Other episodes of The Seen and the Unseen with Ajay Shah: 1, 2, 3. 18. We Are Fighting Two Disasters: Covid-19 and the Indian State -- Amit Varma. 19. Capital -- Rana Dasgupta. 20. Fixing Indian Education -- Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan).  21. Other episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on Education: 1, 2, 3. 22. Episodes of The Seen and the Unseen on Agriculture: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. 23. The Geopolitics of the Bangladesh War -- Episode 113 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan).  24. Building State Capability -- Matt Andrews, Lant Pritchett and Michael Woolcock. 25. Taxes Should Be Used for Governance, Not Politics -- Amit Varma.  26. The Man of System -- From Adam Smith's The Theory of Moral Sentiments. 27. The Fatal Conceit -- Friedrich Hayek. 28: How the BJP Wins -- Prashant Jha. 29. The BJP’s Magic Formula -- Episode 45 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Prashant Jha). 30. The First Assault on Our Constitution -- Episode 194 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tripurdaman Singh). 31. Price Controls Lead to Shortages and Harm the Poor -- Amit Varma. Please subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It’s free! And check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.