Pfizer plans to raise price of COVID vaccine

Pfizer is one of two firms providing an up to date COVID-19 vaccine booster for the BA.5 omicron subvariant this fall.

The photographs are at the moment paid for by the federal authorities and are available free of charge, regardless of an individual’s medical insurance standing. 

Now, in late October, some people on social media are claiming that Pfizer is planning to raise the associated fee of its COVID-19 shot by 400%. 

Is Pfizer planning to enhance the associated fee of its COVID-19 vaccine by 400%?

Yes, Pfizer is planning to enhance the associated fee of its COVID-19 vaccine by as a lot as 400% as soon as the federal authorities stops buying doses. People with insurance coverage will doubtless nonetheless have the ability to obtain the vaccine without spending a dime. 

Right now, each COVID-19 vaccine that’s out there or has already been administered was paid for by the federal authorities. But that’s in all probability going to change subsequent yr.

Congress hasn’t accredited the extra funding that the federal authorities wants to proceed paying for COVID-19 vaccines. Once the federal government’s provide runs out, the “manufacturing, procurement and pricing” of the vaccines will transition to the personal sector, the place many pharmaceutical merchandise are purchased and offered, according to an analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF). 

Pfizer says it plans to enhance the associated fee of its COVID-19 vaccine by as a lot as 400% as soon as it transitions to the business market, or the personal sector, however the photographs will doubtless nonetheless be coated by insurance coverage. 

This is what number of widespread vaccines, such because the annual flu shot, are distributed. Most insurance coverage firms cowl the vaccine without charge, whereas folks with out insurance coverage have to pay out of pocket or depend on low-cost or free vaccine clinics. 

More from VERIFY: Yes, you may get the omicron COVID-19 booster and the flu shot on the similar time

During an investor call on Oct. 20, Pfizer’s U.S. president Angela Lukin stated the corporate plans to enhance the price of its COVID-19 vaccine to between $110 and $130 per dose when it makes the transition to business distribution.

The larger price level will mirror Pfizer’s swap from vials containing a number of vaccine doses to individually-packaged doses and elevated prices related to business distribution, Lukin stated.

Pfizer’s anticipated price level for the COVID-19 vaccine is sort of 4 instances – or 400% – what the U.S. authorities paid in its newest buy settlement with the corporate. 

In June 2022, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that it had bought 105 million doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 shot at a complete value of $3.2 billion, with the choice to buy extra doses later. That equates to round $30 per dose. 

The value of different vaccines within the personal sector ranges anyplace from about $20 to upwards of $200 per dose relying on the shot, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data show.  

More from VERIFY: Yes, up to date omicron boosters had been examined on mice, not people, earlier than authorization

So what about the associated fee to the common particular person?

Pfizer expects that anybody who has personal or authorities insurance coverage, equivalent to Medicare or Medicaid, ought to nonetheless have the ability to get the vaccine without spending a dime when it transitions to a business market, Lukin stated. People with out insurance coverage, nevertheless, might need a tougher time discovering free photographs, in accordance to KFF. 

These modifications will doubtless go into impact initially of subsequent yr. 

COVID-19 vaccine contracts between Pfizer and the U.S. authorities proceed by way of the tip of 2022, so the transition to the personal sector gained’t occur till the primary quarter of 2023 “at the earliest,” Pfizer management stated throughout the October investor name. 

In an August 2022 blog post, HHS Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response Dawn O’Connell stated the Biden administration anticipates that it gained’t have the federal funds to buy or distribute vaccines as early as January 2023. 

More from VERIFY: Yes, the CDC modified its definition of vaccine to be ‘more transparent’