Senator Bernie Sanders on Tuesday urged Moderna not to quadruple the value of its Covid-19 vaccine once vaccine distribution moves to the industrial market.
In a letter to Moderna CEO Stephane BancelSanders called the value increase “outrageous.” An independent senator from Vermont and future chairman of the Senate Health Committee said such a pointy rise in prices would prevent tens of millions of uninsured Americans from injecting, potentially putting their lives in danger as Covid spreads.
Sanders, who has change into a nationally influential figure after two failed Democratic presidential bids, has repeatedly criticized the pharmaceutical industry for top drug prices within the US. the powerful Senate Committee on Health, Education, Work and Pensions.
Sanders said raising vaccine prices would even have a negative impact on Medicaid and Medicare budgets, which can proceed to cover vaccines for gratis to beneficiaries of the programs. Private medical insurance premiums may also increase consequently of the rise in vaccine prices, Sanders wrote.
“Your decision will cost taxpayers billions of dollars,” Sanders wrote to Bancel.
bancel said The Wall Street Journal on Monday that Moderna is considering a price within the range of $110 to $130 per dose of Covid vaccine when the vaccines are sold on the industrial market. The federal government, which procured and distributed the vaccines throughout the emergency phase of the pandemic, now pays about $26 per vaccine dose.
“I find your decision particularly offensive, on condition that the vaccine was developed jointly with scientists on the National Institutes of Health, a U.S. government agency funded by U.S. taxpayers,” Sanders wrote to Bancel.
Bancel told the newspaper that he believes the value is according to the worth of the vaccine. Pfizer can be considering it raising the value of its Covid vaccine to $110-130 per dose.
Dr. Ashish Jha, who heads the White House Covid Task Force, told the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in August that the administration plans to bring the vaccines to the industrial market sometime in 2023. Which means patients will receive the vaccine just like several other medical treatment with a value depending on their medical insurance plan.
Throughout the pandemic, the federal government required all healthcare providers involved within the vaccination campaign to provide vaccines to patients freed from charge, no matter their medical insurance status.
Moderna’s Covid vaccine is the corporate’s only product in the marketplace. The Boston-based biotech reported a profit of $12.2 billion in 2021, the primary 12 months of the vaccination campaign, and one other $6.9 billion through September 2022.
CNBC reported in March that Bancel sold Moderna stock for over $400 million throughout the pandemic.