Harini Weerasekera presents paper on COVID-19 vaccine finance at World Bank forum

3 March 2021

Harini Weerasekera, Research Economist, IPS presented a paper co-authored with Kithmina Hewage, Research Economist, IPS on ‘Fiscal Implications of Vaccinating Sri Lanka Against COVID-19’ at the World Bank’s 7^th South Asia Economic Policy Network Virtual Conference on Vaccinating South Asia, held on 3 March 2021.  The paper was presented under the thematic session on vaccine finance and the fiscal aspects of vaccination.

The research study on which the presentation was based assessed the fiscal implications of reaching a target of vaccinating 80% of Sri Lanka’s population against COVID-19. An approximate costing of the COVID-19 vaccine deployment strategy was conducted, available options for financing this strategy were assessed, and an economic impact analysis was carried out as part of the study.