From next year, the selling price will be between 110 and 130 dollars per dose. That is about four times more than the current price.
Pfizer’s anti-Covid vaccine soon to be four times more expensive in the United States. The American pharmaceutical giant announced Thursday that it is aiming for a selling price between 110 and 130 dollars (between 112 and 132 euros) per dose, once the current purchase program of the American government has expired and its stocks are exhausted, i.e. from 2023. today, it costs 30 dollars (30 euros) per dose to the American administration.
With the Covid-19 public health emergency across the Atlantic expected to end next year, the purchase of vaccines will cease to be funded by the government, and will be transferred to the private sector. A change that will leave Pfizer free to increase the price of its vaccine. It will not be before the first quarter of 2023 “as soon as possible“, specified to analysts Angela Lukin, president US of Pfizer, and that will depend on the rhythm of exhaustion of the remaining American stocks.
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News has sparked the People’s Vaccine Alliance, a coalition of organizations that advocates for easy and free access to vaccines. “It’s theft in broad daylight“, pestered Julia Kosgei, political advisor to the organization. Estimating, on the basis of analyzes by the NGO Oxfam, that the cost of production of Pfizer’s anti-Covid vaccine is only 1.18 dollars (1.20 euros), “charging $130 a dose would be a markup of more than 10,000%concludes Julia Kosgei.
Famous US Senator Bernie Sanders was also outraged on Twitter. “Enough is enough. The Covid vaccine should cost $0. Pfizer’s greed is killing people around the world“, Estimated the finalist of the Democratic presidential primary of 2016, stressing moreover that Pfizer had”received billions in federal contractsto develop its vaccine.
Always free for insured persons, reassures Pfizer
On the Pfizer side, it is said to be “convinced“than the future American price of its anti-Covid vaccine”reflects its overall cost-effectiveness and ensures that price will not be a barrier to patient access“. Angela Lukin said she expects the vaccine to be made available free of charge to people who have private insurance or government-paid insurance. On the other hand, not a word about people who have no health insurance. In addition, the pharmaceutical group has highlighted to the Quartz media the higher manufacturing and distribution costs that it will have to incur once the public health emergency is over, and that it will have to distribute its doses through multiple channels and payers.
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US media NBC News reports that the estimated future price of Pfizer’s vaccine is within the price range of other adult vaccines (such as hepatitis or shingles), which ranges from $13 to more than $200, according to the data. of the CDC, the public health agency of the United States.
However, even Wall Street analysts did not expect such a high future price range, Reuters points out. According to a Wells Fargo analyst, Pfizer could derive 2.5 to 3 billion dollars (2.5 to 3 billion euros) in additional annual revenue. The other American (and global) giant of Covid vaccines, Moderna, could soon follow Pfizer’s example, according to analysts. A price range of 64 to 100 dollars (65 to 101 euros) was mentioned by biotech a few days ago.
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