(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) Pharmaceutical company Pfizer is expected to nearly quadruple the price of its COVID-19 vaccine—charging around $120 per dose—after the United States government’s current purchasing program comes to an end.
Pfizer executive Angela Lukin released the statement and elaborated, saying she expects the vaccine will be available at no cost to people with private or government paid insurance.
According to US News, the government currently provides the vaccination to all American citizens free of charge.
As the demand for vaccination declines, it is predicted that price hikes will continue to rise in order to meet internal revenue forecasts.
The government currently pays around $30 per vaccine to Pfizer and its Germany-based research partner, BioNTech.
The market is expected to move to private insurance to make money in 2023, as the public health emergency slowly expires in the U.S.
“We are confident that the U.S. price point of the COVID-19 vaccine reflects its overall cost effectiveness and ensures the price will not be a barrier for access for patients,” Lukin said.
Pfizer also stated that the COVID vaccination market is expected to be about the same size as the flu-shot market, providing an annual shot for adults.
Its possible that the pediatric market would take longer to build, based on the testing and reception of current pediatric COVID vaccines.
In the last year, COVID shots lagged despite more people being eligible for the shots.
An estimated 14.8 million people received a booster shot in the first six weeks of the roll out. Over 22 million people received their third shot.
Several reports of side effects have come out after people received their shots, despite initial insistence from the mainstream media that the vaccines were totally safe.
Lukin said that the company was not expecting private sector purchases of vaccines until the first quarter of 2023, depending on when the government contracted supply is gone.
