Covid booster: Pharmacy giants have slammed a price increase of over 400 percent

Brighton Pavilion MP Caroline Lucas wrote a letter signed by MPs from different parties criticizing Pfizer and Moderna for potentially increasing the price of vital injections.

She said the pharmacy giants “now have to confirm” that the cost of the vaccines in the UK would not go up.

In her letter, she wrote to the CEOs of Pfizer and Moderna, two of the largest booster providers in the country.

The Booster program continues across the UK (Image: PA)

Writing to Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel, she said: “With the NHS already under significant pressure and the cost of medicines rising every year, we are extremely concerned about the multiple implications of a potential price hike.

“Britain has already paid high prices for their vaccines of £24 to £28 per dose. With Moderna’s vaccine being estimated at just £2.33 to manufacture, even that price represents a premium of 1100 per cent.”

She wrote to Pfizer’s Mr. Bancel and Albert Bourla: “We hope that you will be able to provide us with appropriate confirmation in the near future.”

The letters were also signed by Wendy Chamberlain, Liberal Democrat MP for North East Fife, Philippa Whitford, Scottish National Party MP for Central Ayrshire, and Dan Poulter, Conservative MP for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich.

Caroline Lucas wrote the bipartisan letter (Image: PA)

Ms Lucas said the booster shots had already brought billions in profits to the companies.

Urging Mr Bourla to reconsider the price hike, she wrote: “The UK has already set the highest known prices for Pfizer’s vaccines, with your company reportedly already raising the price per dose from £18 to £22.

“As Pfzer’s vaccine is estimated to cost £4.98 to manufacture, even the original price represented a premium of 340 per cent.”

“During its development, Pfizer BioNtech’s vaccine received huge amounts of public funding and international support.

“Even the mRNA technology that Pfizer/BioNtech used in the Covid-19 vaccine is rooted in decades of publicly funded research. A human-funded vaccine should be cheap and freely available.”