Sunday, November 22, 2020

It is abhorrent that big pharma is profiting from a vaccine when so many are dying from coronavirus

Sat, 21 November 2020

Will ‘vaccine nationalism’ become a problem?(Getty/iStock)

Millions are dying from Covid-19. It is abhorrent that pharmaceutical companies seem to be competing with each other to produce vaccines in order to be first and make fortunes for their directors and shareholders out of this crisis, while governments fight over who receives the vaccine.

Governments should be collaborating with each other and the pharmaceuticals to ensure that a viable vaccine can be produced and made available to every nation at a fair and low price, which of course covers the costs of research, production and distribution.

This is not a business but a world emergency, which is having incalculable consequences for every nation and its population.

Peter Fieldman
Madrid


Moderna to charge $25-$37 for COVID-19 vaccine - CEO tells paper


Sat, 21 November 2020
MODERNA ANNOUNCES A VACCINE AGAINST COVID-19 EFFECTIVE AT 94.5%

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Moderna will charge governments between $25 and $37 per dose of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, depending on the amount ordered, Chief Executive Stephane Bancel told German weekly Welt am Sonntag (WamS).

"Our vaccine therefore costs about the same as a flu shot, which is between $10 and $50," he was quoted as saying.

On Monday, an EU official involved in the talks said the European Commission wanted to reach a deal with Moderna for the supply of millions of doses of its vaccine candidate for a price below $25 per dose.

"Nothing is signed yet, but we're close to a deal with the EU Commission. We want to deliver to Europe and are in constructive talks," Bancel told WamS, adding it was just a "matter of days" until a contract would be ready.

Moderna has said its experimental vaccine is 94.5% effective in preventing COVID-19, based on interim data from a late-stage clinical trial, becoming the second developer to report results that far exceeded expectations after Pfizer and its partner BioNTech.

The EU has been in talks with Moderna for its experimental COVID-19 vaccine at least since July.

(Reporting by Christoph Steitz; Editing by Mark Potter)

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