In the middle of the corona pandemic
Vaccine manufacturers increased prices by 50 percent
1/27/2023 1:42 am
In the corona pandemic, the federal government is trying to buy enough vaccine doses for the population. According to research, two manufacturers are taking advantage of the situation and significantly increasing their prices between December 2020 and autumn 2021.
The federal government ordered vaccines worth 13.1 billion euros during the corona pandemic. The Federal Ministry of Health confirmed this to the NDR, WDR and the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” (SZ). A total of 672 million vaccine doses have been ordered since the beginning of the pandemic. That would be around eight cans per head. According to a report, around 10.5 billion euros for 556 million doses fell during Jens Spahn’s tenure as Minister of Health.
According to the research network, it has a detailed order overview from the federal government for individual vaccines. For example, on August 27, 2020, the federal government ordered more than 56 million Astrazeneca doses at a price of around 2.30 euros per vaccine dose. However, the price increases of the companies Pfizer/Biontech and Moderna in the middle of the pandemic are striking.
In December 2020, the federal government ordered almost 39 million vaccine doses from Biontech at a price of around 15.50 euros per dose. Nine months later, when the government ordered a further 168 million doses of vaccine, a dose cost an average of around 23.20 euros. This corresponds to an increase of around 50 percent. On December 23, 2020, the Federal Republic of Germany purchased almost 15 million vaccine doses from the US company Moderna at a price of around 19.50 euros each. Three months later, the average cost would have been around 29.70 euros per dose – also a price increase of around 50 percent.
“I actually think that’s dishonest”
According to industry circles, Biontech has spent more money than it has earned on research for years. Now that’s the reward. The company boss Uğur Şahin wants to invest in research into new medicines, pharmaceutical representatives told NDR, WDR and SZ. The price increases are also due to the fact that the federal government and the EU have written expensive conditions into the contracts. You just had to secure that with a higher price.
The chairman of the Drug Commission of the German Medical Association, Wolf-Dieter Ludwig, criticized the price increases of the two manufacturers in the middle of the pandemic. “I actually think that’s dubious, given the economic sales, you could have stayed at the old price,” he told the research network. However, it was the case that “we needed the vaccines” and “the pharmaceutical companies were able to push through these prices”.
Moderna did not want to comment on its pricing policy to the research network. Biontech said: “Do not rely on information that cannot be verified (we cannot understand the pricing)”.