NTD
Moderna has reversed course and promised that people will not have to pay for the company’s COVID-19 vaccine once the U.S. government stops buying shots.
“Moderna remains committed to ensuring that people in the United States will have access to our COVID-19 vaccines regardless of ability to pay,” the company said in a statement.
Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine “will continue to be available at no cost for insured people whether they receive them at their doctors’ offices or local pharmacies,” according to the company. People who don’t have health insurance, or don’t have adequate insurance, will be able to get the vaccine “at no cost” through a Moderna assistance program, it added.
The U.S. government has purchased hundreds of millions of COVID-19 vaccine doses since 2020 and Americans who want one have not been charged.
President Joe Biden’s administration plans to end the COVID-19 public health emergency in May and stop buying more vaccine doses.
While some already-purchased doses will be available for some time, the change could potentially lead to people paying to get vaccinated. The Department of Health and Human Services has said that “many Americans will continue to pay nothing out-of-pocket” to get a vaccine because most private insurers, and Medicare, would cover the vaccines at least through September 2024.
Some people, though, were set to face a steep cost.
Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel said in January that Moderna was looking at pricing doses in the $110 to $130 range following the end of the emergency. That would be up from the $26 a dose for booster shots and approximately $15 per dose for the original vaccine that the company charged the government.
“I would think this type of pricing is consistent with the value” from the vaccine, Bancel told the Wall Street Journal.
That plan drew ire from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who said in a letter (pdf) to the CEO that millions of Americans may not be able to afford that cost. Sanders called the proposed hike an “outrageous price boost.”
Sanders, who chairs the Senate Health Committee, is holding a hearing in March titled, “Taxpayers Paid Billions For It: So Why Would Moderna Consider Quadrupling the Price of the COVID Vaccine.” Bancel is slated to testify during the hearing.
Sanders has pointed out that Moderna has reaped immense profits during the pandemic, as have Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson. The three companies produce the only COVID-19 vaccines that were available in the United States until 2022, when regulators authorized a vaccine from Novavax.
Pfizer said in the fall it plans to charge around $110 to $130 per dose once the government stops buying the vaccine. Novavax has not named a price but has said it expects to take a significant share of the market once the government buying ends. Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine is not preferred due to the risk of an often-deadly combination of low platelet levels and blood clotting.
