Moderna CEO to testify before the Senate in light of Covid vaccine price hike

There is a possibility that Moderna's CEO Stephane Bancel will appear before the Senate health committee during the month of March to address the price increase that the company intends to impose on the Covid-19 vaccine as part of the recent price hike announced.

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The chairman of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, Senator Bernie Sanders, announced on Wednesday that Bancel would appear at a hearing on the topic of "Taxpayers Paid Billions for It: Why Would Moderna Consider Quadrupling the Price of COVID Vaccines?". This hearing was scheduled to be held on Wednesday, and it was announced that Bancel would be attending that hearing. 

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Bancel told Trade Algo that it would be willing to consider raising its vaccine price to between $110 and $130 if the federal government stops buying vaccines for the public instead of selling them on the private market. In the United States, Moderna's omicron booster is currently priced at around $26 per dose, which is considerably less than other boosters on the market, which is based on estimates from the Kaiser Family Foundation.

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Last month in a letter directed to Bancel, Sanders commented on the proposed price hike for the vaccine, calling it "outrageous" a statement that was made in the light of the fact that taxpayer money was spent on the development of the vaccine, which was developed in conjunction with the National Institutes of Health.

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Since the vaccine was developed in conjunction with scientists at the National Institutes of Health, a government agency funded by U.S. taxpayers, Bancel's decision was particularly offensive to Sanders, given that the vaccine was developed jointly with scientists at the institute. U.S. taxpayers fund the government agency.

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There is no doubt that the quadrupling of vaccine prices is going to be one of the most important aspects of the health care reform bill, as out of the millions of Americans without insurance or underinsured, millions are not likely to be able to afford the vaccine as a result of cost increases. Nevertheless, we now need to ask ourselves a very important question: “How many Americans will die of Covid-19 over the next few years as a result of their inability to access these life-saving vaccines? ”