In what was an enraging spectacle, Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel testified before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Wednesday and defended his company’s decision to more than quadruple the price of its Covid vaccine to around $130. His testimony served as the latest illustration of how major pharmaceutical companies exploit the public by happily soaking up taxpayer money — and then gouging them in their bid for exorbitant profits.
It costs Moderna $2.85 to manufacture a vaccine dose. The U.S. government has been paying Moderna between $15 and $26 a dose, and then distributing it to the public for free. But with President Joe Biden ending the national emergency designation for Covid in May, Moderna will soon be selling its vaccines directly to the public.
The bottom line is the de facto affordability of their vaccine will be at Moderna’s mercy.
Moderna’s CEO said that its massive price hike is necessary in order to deal with falling demand. Also, he argued that distribution of vaccines will become more complex, without the government buying doses en masse. Among other things, Moderna anticipates eating more of the costs of unused doses going forward.
On that basis, Moderna is setting a price point that is extraordinarily high for a life-saving form of medicine. While people with health insurance may not have to pay out of pocket for the vaccine, the tens of millions of uninsured people in America may find themselves choosing between being inoculated against Covid and paying other bills. Moderna claims it’s developing financial assistance programs for the uninsured, but it’s unclear what that assistance will look like, how long it would last, and if it would require the kind of tedious paperwork likely to deter low-income people from cashing in. The bottom line is the de facto affordability of their vaccine will be at Moderna’s mercy. And, ultimately, setting a price tag of well over $100 for the vaccine is…
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