In October, Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) signaled its plans to raise its COVID-19 vaccine price to roughly $110 to $130 per dose. The new price would go effect after the U.S. government’s purchase program for the vaccine expires, said Angela Lukin, Pfizer’s global primary care and U.S. president.
Senator Warren and Senator-elect Welch asked Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla for an explanation for its “unseemly profiteering” regarding the proposed COVID-19 vaccine price bump. “This price increase represents pure and deadly greed on the part of the company, and could result in the COVID-induced fatalities of many uninsured Americans that may be unable to afford the vaccine,” the senators noted in their letter.
The new COVID-19 vaccine price, roughly quadruple the former one, would be reimbursed by public or private insurers, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla noted in a November press event.
In its Q3 earnings announcement, Bourla noted that the company believed that “a potential U.S. list price between $110 and $130 per single dose vial for adults reflects the value of the vaccine and as well the thresholds for what would be considered a highly cost-effective vaccine.”
Last year, robust COVID-19 vaccine sales helped make Pfizer the top pharmaceutical company by revenue.
Warren and Welch noted in their letter that the new price would represent a 10,000% markup over “what experts estimate as the cost of production.”
The senators also said the price hike could lead to other vaccine manufacturers such as Moderna and Novavax raising the prices of their respective vaccines after the U.S. government privatizes the COVID-19 vaccine market in 2023.
The cost of the COVID-19 vaccines has increased over the course of the pandemic. The most expensive COVID-19 vaccine to date is the Pfizer bivalent vaccine, which costs $30.48 per dose.
The initial price per dose of the original Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was $19.50.
In its Q3 earnings report, Pfizer’s global president for hospital business Angela Lukin pointed to a recently published study from HHS that showed that vaccination against COVID-19 was tied to a reduction in 650,000 hospitalizations and 300,000 fewer deaths.
In 2023, Pfizer will also shift sales of its Paxlovid COVID-19 to the private market. An assessment in Kaiser Health News projects that uptake of the antiviral would decrease.