COVID-19 Vaccine at $20 a Dose Will Set A New Benchmark For the Rivals. The first lot of the 100 million doses of COVID-19 Vaccine will be made available to the US citizens by its Government following the 2 BIllion Dollars deal the US has signed a with the Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE to supply the experimental coronavirus vaccine to the U.S.
The report states that a person will need two such doses of a vaccine candidate to complete the entire course that will cost roughly at $40 (1500INR) per person which according to the Pfizer spokesperson is “almost 30% less than what others charge for a seasonal flu vaccine.
“By keeping the price as low as $19.50 we are taking into the account public health requirements during the pandemic,” said the said Sally Beatty, a Pfizer spokeswoman. The companies are pursuing a two-dose regimen of one of its vaccine candidates.
Unlike in the beginning there is a huge competition into the segment of Covid-19 vaccine with several dozens of companies wrestling with how to price future vaccines and the price factor will only depend upon the effectiveness of the vaccine.
According to the reports, there is a possibility of exceeding the price above $20 for the vaccine that has fewer side effects or that doesn’t need as many doses, particularly those developing candidates based on so-called messenger RNA technology, such as Moderna Inc.
Although the US state government has already placed the order for 100 million (1 crore) doses but the timeline for the same is not yet finalised since the entire thing will depend on the approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the ability to successfully manufacture the vaccine by Pfizer.
This will be just the trial order with additional 500 million doses will be ordered from the company for which the company is planning to have separate negotiation terms. “will need to separately negotiate the terms for the remaining doses if the U.S. orders more,” said Beatty.
How Much the Pharma Companies expected to make in this deals?
According to the reports, Despite Pfizer setting a moderate price for a shot, the drug giant and its partner stand to profit from their effort. “If this vaccine prevents disease after one use, we calculate a windfall of more than $15 billion revenue for Pfizer,” Sam Fazeli, a Bloomberg Intelligence analyst, said in a note. “We believe this sets the top price for a vaccine, with lower prices elsewhere. Need for repeated use would be the game-changer.”
Besides the Pfizer there are other Pharma companies like Moderna, Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Novavax Inc. are looking forward to the the share of the market. According to the reports, Moderna, whose investors see a significant financial opportunity. The U.S. biotech’s vaccine could generate sales of more than $5 billion a year, and due to this the shares of these companies have shot up this year.
The Vaccine will be made available to the rich countries in the World
According to the sources, with the big players like the US and UK securing the deals for several millions of doses of the vaccine, there is a possibility of poorer regions in the world being left behind. In fact according to the reports, ( ) The Elite people in the society and Politicians Have already Taken a Shot of Vaccine in April Itself. Top executives at companies including aluminium giant United Co. Rusal, as well as billionaire tycoons and government officials including the president Putin, began getting shots developed by the state-run Gamaleya Institute in Moscow as early as April, the people said. They declined to be identified as the information isn’t public.
Meanwhile, when asked on a conference call with reporters on Monday if President Vladimir Putin had taken it, Peskov said: “It probably wouldn’t be a good idea to use an uncertified vaccine on the head of state,” adding that he wasn’t aware of other officials trying it.
Whatever may the politicians and business tycoons say, the fact remains that the vaccine will be made available first to the rich countries like US, UK, Russia and others and later on it will come into the markets for the poorer countries in the world. What are your views on this story?
