Pandemic Retirees in US Head Back to Work as Asset Boom Fades; COVID-19 Vaccine Scheme for Poorest has $2.6Bn Left to Spend as Pandemic Recedes, and other C-Virus related stories
Pandemic Retirees in US Head Back to Work as Asset Boom Fades:
The so-called Great Retirement is looking a little less great lately, as stalled house prices and the rising cost of living push some older workers back into the labor force, new research shows.
The disappearance of a few million people from the US labor force has been a striking feature of the pandemic era, and economists attribute part of it to people retiring early, along with a drop in immigration and the effects of long Covid.
Miguel Faria e Castro, an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, and colleague Samuel Jordan-Wood estimate that the number of “excess retirements” — or older Americans quitting work at rates above historical trends — crested at about 3 million in December.
For sure, some retired out of fear of catching Covid-19, which has killed some 1.1 million people in the US, most of them older Americans. But soaring housing and stock prices, especially earlier in the pandemic, probably pushed others to make the leap, Faria e Castro suggested in a Fed research paper released in May.
Second Thoughts?
At least some of them now appear to have had second thoughts, according to Faria e Castro’s latest estimates, which are based on US Census Bureau data. The number of excess retirees is down by around 600,000, or 20%, since the end of last year, the economist found. —>READ MORE HERE
COVID-19 vaccine scheme for poorest has $2.6bn left to spend as pandemic recedes:
Several billions of dollars left in a scheme to deliver COVID-19 vaccines to the world’s poorest could be diverted to prepare for other pandemics or to support vaccine manufacturing in Africa, the scheme’s partners said.
The COVAX initiative, run by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the World Health Organization (WHO), and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), has $2.6 billion left in its coffers as the emergency phase of the pandemic draws to a close, according to documents seen by Reuters and two sources close to the scheme.
The initiative is set to wind up at the end of this year, although some of its work will continue. With demand for COVID-19 vaccines dwindling, the partners are now working out how best to use the remaining cash – a significant sum in global health – alongside the donors who originally pledged it.
Around $600 million was given as part of a “contingency” fund in case the pandemic escalated again. The remaining $2 billion has come back to COVAX after drugmakers agreed to refund deals agreed for vaccines at the height of the pandemic.
“This money was designed as an instrument of contingency, so we could respond to the twists and turns of the pandemic,” said Marie-Ange Saraka-Yao, Gavi’s head of resource mobilization. “We don’t want the money to be idle.”
Around $700 million is likely to be used for an ongoing COVID-19 vaccination programme in countries supported by Gavi, for 2024 and 2025. This option will be discussed by Gavi’s board this week. Another portion of the money will be used for booster shots this year and next. —>READ MORE HERE
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