Moderna under fire for 'unprecedented level of corporate greed,' as it plans to raise Covid vaccine prices

Moderna, which has so far charged between around $15 to $26 for a dose of its Covid vaccine, is planning to increase prices and charge as much as $130 per dose. Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders lashed out at this prospective price hike and denounced it as an "unprecedented level of corporate greed" in the pharmaceutical industry. Defending the price hike, Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel said that the distribution system will change completely when the US government lifts a state of a health emergency, which may happenas soon as May.

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Speaking at a Senate hearing, Sanders remarked that Moderna was "thanking the taxpayers of the United States" by more than quadrupling the vaccine's price "at a time when it costs less than $3 to manufacture."

However, the Moderna CEO said that when the shots move into the private sector, the business will no longer benefit from the economies of scale from governmentpurchases.

Up till now, Moderna had only the government as its one customer for its COVID-19 vaccine. Bancel said that upon switching to a more traditional marketing approach, the vaccine manufacturer is "going to have 10,000 customers" and will have to "manage to deliver to 60,000 pharmacies, doctors' offices and hospitals."

"On top of all this, we're expecting a 90 per cent reduction in demand," said Bancel, adding "as you can see, we're losing economies of scale."Additionally, as per AFP, until now, Moderna did not have to pay for the cost of expired doses. However, it will now have to bear that and also take care of unsold doses.

(With inputs from agencies)

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