AstraZeneca vaccine halt could slow down Asia’s economic recovery, says economist

AstraZeneca vaccine halt could slow down Asia’s economic recovery, says economist

SINGAPORE “” Asia's economic recovery could slow down as more countries suspend the use of the Covid-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford, warned the chief Asia-Pacific economist of Moody's Analytics."It adds some modest risk to the role that Asia plays in terms of the global economic turnaround," Steve Cochrane told CNBC's "Squawk Box Asia" on Tuesday.Reports of blood clots in some people who received the AstraZeneca-Oxford shot led several countries “” many of them in Europe “” to temporarily stop using the vaccine. The World Health Organization said there's no link between the shot and an increased risk of developing blood clots and is investigating.

Vaccine impact on global trade

"There's a possibility it could put a dent in terms of global trade if the vaccine rollout is delayed in Europe and that were to mean that there were some more extensive lockdowns on the economy in Europe “” then that could slow down the pace of global trade," he explained.Asian countries have been relatively successful in containing the virus, and that's helped their economies recover quicker than those in Europe and the U.S.

Fortunately, renewed lockdowns in some parts of Europe have not hit manufacturing, said Cochrane. He