BOSTON– While nearly 70% of the world population has yet to receive a single dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 4.3 million people have died from the pandemic, Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Moderna, maker of a key mRNA COVID-19 vaccine, is on target to book a record $35 billion in vaccine sales this year—25% more than previously forecast—according to the Wall Street Journal (“As Covid-19 Boosters Loom, Pfizer and Moderna Expected to See Billions More in Sales” WSJ, Felecia Schwartz, 8/19/21).
And as AstraZeneca, one of its competitors, sells its vaccine for under $5.00, the Guardian reports Moderna “… charged the US government (which helped fund the development of the vaccine) up to $16.50 a dose, and has sold it for $22 to $37 outside the US.” (“COVID-19 Vaccines: the Contracts, Prices and Profits” The Guardian, Julia Kollewe, (8/11/21) To protest Moderna’s ‘pandemic profiteering’ from the ongoing global public health disaster, advocates from AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) and its partners will stage a demonstration at the pharma company’s headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts on Tuesday, August 31 at 12 noon ET.
The WSJ also reported “Vaccine makers are charging 15% to 25% more per dose than they did for the first set of shipments,” AND “Both Moderna and Pfizer have said they intend to raise prices after the pandemic is over.”
At the same time, the Los Angeles Times reported that global vaccine access remains low. It cited Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, who told reporters on Wednesday, August 18th that just 10 countries have administered 75% of the world’s vaccine supply. Low-income countries, he said, have vaccinated about 2% of their populations.” (“Biden Outlines New Anti-COVID Plans” LAT, Eli Stokols & Del Quentin Wilber, 8/19/21)
“We have a clear message for Moderna – greed kills, and we won’t tolerate pandemic profiteering any longer! Moderna booked record-breaking earnings as a result of the pandemic and this windfall comes at the expense of people’s lives,” said Tracy Jones, Midwest Regional Director and National Director for Advocacy for AHF. “In low-income countries only about 2% of people have been vaccinated, with Africa being hit especially hard. We are not going to allow this to turn into another AIDS crisis, when pharma companies kept lifesaving treatment from millions of people by charging exorbitant prices for medicines often developed with taxpayer support. Moderna must lower vaccine prices and share its patents and technology with other countries so that vaccine production can be scaled up across the world. We won’t stop until Moderna does the right thing!”
