Moderna CEO defends Covid vaccine price increase

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Moderna CEO defends Covid vaccine price increase

Moderna CEO St phane Bancel defended the company's plans to raise the price of its Covid vaccine at a Senate hearing Wednesday, saying it was necessary because government funding will soon end.

The vaccine has been purchased and distributed by the U.S. government until now. In a hearing on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions on Tuesday, Bancel said that Moderna must make sure that everyone who wants a vaccine can get one at a location convenient to them. The vaccine cost will be increased to $130 a day from the current price of $26.

The panel chair, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., an outspoken critic of Moderna's plan, grilled Bancel about whether the new pricing was necessary. Sanders said that the vaccine was developed with the help of government scientists at the National Institutes of Health and billions of dollars from the federal government.

Without the help of NIH's partnership and expertise and the substantial investment of the taxpayers of this country, this vaccine wouldn't exist. As a matter of public record, the U.S. taxpayers spent $12 billion on the research development and procurement of the NIH-Moderna Covid vaccine, Sanders said.

The price of Covid vaccine is going to go up to $130 a year after the government stockpile runs out, a time when it costs less than $3 to manufacture the vaccine, according to Sanders, who has been a donor to the taxpayers of the United States.

Pfizer announced last year that it plans to sell the Covid vaccine it developed with BioNTech for teens and adults when the U.S. government stops paying for them.

Bancel said that the U.S. vaccine program saved more than 3 million lives and prevented 18 million hospitalizations, and that it owes it to the U.S. government a debt of gratitude. He said that the changing post-pandemic landscape will be a challenge for his company.

Bancel said Moderna expects a reduction in the number of orders as demand decreases, as well as increased costs for distributing vaccines, because the federal government has taken over that responsibility until now. There are various supply chain issues, according to Bancel.

He promised to keep the vaccine affordable for those who are struggling to make ends meet. He said that they committed to ensuring anyone who wants a vaccine can get one without price being a barrier.