2022 SAJC H1 Prelim QP

ST ANDREW’S JUNIOR COLLEGE PRELIMINARY EXAMINATIONS 2022 (JC2) General Certificate of Education Advanced Level Higher 1 ECONOMICS 8823/01 29 August 2022 3 hours READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST An answer booklet will be provided with the question paper. You should follow the instructions on the front cover of the answer booklet. If you need additional paper ask the invigilator for a continuation booklet. Answer all questions. The number of marks is given in brackets [ ] at the end of each part question. This document consists of 9 printed pages. © SAJC 2022 [Turn Over]

2 Answer all questions Question 1: The Markets for Masks and Vaccines Extract 1: Global Mask and Vaccine Shortage The Global Mask Shortage The World Health Organization has warned that severe and mounting disruption to the global supply of masks– caused by panic buying, hoarding and misuse – is putting lives at risk from the new coronavirus and other infectious diseases. Healthcare workers rely on surgical masks and other personal protective equipment to protect themselves and their patients from being infected and infecting others. Polypropylene non-woven fabric, a key component used to make masks is limited in supply as the small number of producers world-wide find it difficult to expand production during the crisis. The US, Germany and other countries have also restricted exports of some mask-making materials, drawing intense criticism, from developing countries such as African nations where COVID ravages on. The Global Vaccine Shortage More than 600 million people worldwide, primarily the United States and European nations, have been at least partially vaccinated against COVID-19 — meaning that more than seven billion still have not. As wealthy countries envision the pandemic retreating within months — while poorer ones face the prospect of years of suffering — frustration has people around the world asking why more vaccine isn’t available. Vaccine making is an exacting process. With a new shot, new production lines and mounting global expectations, it gets harder. Both AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson, two of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, have run into serious prod uction problems with their COVID -19 vaccines — object lessons in the challenges of scaling up in a hurry from nothing to hundreds of millions of doses. There are only so many factories around the world that make vaccines and only so many people trained in making them — and they were busy before the pandemic. Likewise, production capacity for biological raw materials, cell culture media, specialized filters, pumps, tubing, preservatives, glass vials and rubber stoppers is also limited. A spike in COVID cases and deaths has led to many countries especially the developed countries intensifying vaccination programmes with massive bulk purchases of vaccines which contributed to the global shortage of vaccines, leaving the poorer nations vulnerable to the pandemic. Experts believe that this global vaccine shortage is likely to persist and have cautioned that the impact of the shortage on global equity is a cause for concern. Source: Adapted from World Health Organisation March 3 2020, OECD May 4 2020, The New York Times May 3 2021

3 Figure 1: COVID-19 Daily Cases Hospitalised vs People Vaccinated in the United States Source: www.latentview.com Extract 2: Vaccination Hesitancy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced in a national broadcast on December 14 2020 that Singapore would be receiving the vaccine developed by pharmaceutical company Pfizer and German firm BioNTech. With an eye on more batches of COVID-19 vaccines arriving in the coming months, the Government has taken pains to lower barriers to getting vaccinated and soften the ground. It has made the COVID-19 vaccine free and voluntary. It also targets to bring in enough to cover all Singaporeans and long-term residents deemed to be medically eligible for vaccination by the end of the year. It hopes that given the huge social benefits of vaccinations, safety management measures ranging from mandatory mask wearing, restrictions on social gatherings and quarantine or isolation order can be gradually eased. However, vaccines achieve larger public policy goals in curbing disease progression and transmission only when a substantial proportion of the population has been vaccinated. Aside from logistics, public attitudes toward the vaccine may present a host of challenges. Experts have long studied factors leading to vaccine hesitancy, when an individual decides to delay or reject vaccination despite availability. In 2019, the World Health Organization identified vaccine hesitancy as one of the top 10 global health threats. This threat has been given fresh urgency as anti-vaxxers around the world scuttled national healthcare efforts to keep their populations healthy. A wave of anti-vaccination sentiment swept across many countries including Singapore due to a rise in online misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccines. Some claimed that the COVID-19 vaccine causes infertility or alters a person’s DNA. The adverse effects of vaccine misinformation are far-reaching in sowing distrust in science and public institutions. Battling the constant onslaught of COVID -19 vaccine misinformation also has the unintended consequence of diverting governments and public health agencies’ attention and resources in coordinating nationwide vaccination programs effectively. To be certain, getting vaccinated is an outcome of a complex individual decision-making process. Those reluctant often lack confidence in the effectiveness and safety of the vaccine and do not see a need for or value of getting the vaccine. They are even more reluctant when the vaccination centres are too far away or when they have to wait in the long queues. This reluctance towards vaccination might stem from both not having enough information about the vaccine and from being exposed to wrong information. Source: Adapted from Channel News Asia 12 Jan 2021

4 Extract 3: Measures to cope with single-use mask shortage and its effects due to demand surge Hoarding and panic buying of masks by mainly richer countries have led to unnecessary use of disposable masks where more and more single-use masks are worn and discarded, thus further ramping up demand for masks. Successful awareness campaigns to manage COVID-19 have also caused a dramatic surge in those now willing to don single-use masks in developing countries. These developments would further worsen global shortage of single-use masks and its effects unless urgent measures are implemented. Price control Some countries such as South Korea and Taiwan have decided on imposing a price control on private sales of masks to ensure affordability of single-use masks. Subsidy & grants Countries such as the US considered the use of subsidy and grants to encourage single-use mask manufacturers to expand production. While urgent action by governments is required to achieve sufficient masks for the world population at affordable prices, there is also a worry that some of these actions may not necessarily lead to a better outcome than market forces. Source: Adapted from Channel News Asia 13 Nov 2021, Harvard Business Review 6 May 2021, The Conversation 24 April 2020

5 Questions [Total: 45 marks] (a) With reference to Extract 1, e xplain either one demand factor or one supply factor that has contributed to the global mask shortage. [2] (b) With reference to Extract 1: (i) Using the concept of price elasticity of supply, explain why the globa