Moderna basking in billions, charged with corporate greed  

By Dana Malcolm  

Staff Writer  

#USA, March 31, 2023 – In what Bernie Sanders, former Presidential candidate, is describing as a bout of ‘corporate greed,’ Moderna has laid out plans to quadruple the cost of its vaccine raising the price to between $110 to $130 from the original $15 to $26 dollars in the coming months as the US Government cuts off it Covid-19 vaccination funding.  

The US, like other governments around the globe, has been purchasing the vaccines directly from makers like Moderna and Pfizer for the past two years, and providing the shots free to everyone who showed up for the jabs. 

Not only did that level the playing field for all to get protected from the respiratory disease regardless of employment status or finances, but it also made Moderna billions.  Now the US government is phasing that out and residents will have to purchase their own vaccines.  

Buying in bulk caused hundreds of thousands of doses to go to waste as well, as they expired on the shelf when vaccine interest waned.  The US did make use of these doses, shunting off some of those soon to be expired shots to other countries to avoid complete loss.  

Considering the dip in vaccine take-up over the past year and that COVID-19 cases are significantly lower than the peak in 2022, it stands to be highly likely that when the Government pulls its funding, Moderna stands to see the revenue it enjoyed in the last 2 years severely diminished. 

The CEO did not back down on the pricing even in the face of a Senate committee called to assess the massive increase on what the World Health Organization has described as a life-saving treatment.  

“So, the taxpayers of this country who put money into the vaccine in order to protect the health of and lives of the American people, are now creating billionaires in a company that is going to quadruple prices for them,” Sanders said in a recent video posted to his YouTube channel. 

COVID-19 is not over, the WHO is currently toying with the possibility of recommending yearly vaccines.  

If Moderna hikes its prices, US residents could be left holding the bag, shelling out up to $130 for a single jab which costs around $3 dollars to make.  It’s a price tag that could prove daunting to many families especially those with low incomes and considered among the medically vulnerable. 

It would also affect some in the Americas which purchases from Moderna as well through the UN’s Covax program.