Suara.com – Biotechnology company from the United States Modern Inc. plans to set prices COVID-19 vaccine in the amount of 50-60 US dollars (around Rp. 720,000-860,000) per package. This was revealed by a number of sources as quoted by Reuters from the Financial Times, Tuesday (07/28/2020).
The price set by Moderna Inc. for one package contains two doses vaccine US $ 11 more expensive (around Rp.159,000) than vaccines sold by Pfizer, a US pharmaceutical company. Pfizer and the German biotechnology company, BioNTech, sell the vaccine for US $ 39 (around Rp564,000) to the US Government.
Some observers said the selling price agreed by Pfizer and BioNTech with the US Government would make it difficult for other vaccine manufacturers to set the same price. Pfizer and BioNTech have agreed on vaccine sales COVID-19 for 50 million patients worth two billion US dollars (around Rp.28.9 trillion).
The vaccine price set by Moderna Inc will apply to the U.S. and other high-income countries, according to a report quoted by the Financial Times.
A Moderna spokesman said the company was still discussing the possibility of procuring a vaccine called mRNA-1273 with a number of countries. However, he did not mention information about the selling price of vaccines given “the confidentiality aspect of the contents of meetings and business contracts”.
The final price for a vaccine made by Moderna has not yet been determined, said a resource person familiar with the matter.
Pfizer, Moderna, and Merck & Co. said they plan to profit from the sale of vaccines, while other vaccine manufacturers, Johnson & Johnson announced plans for vaccine prices to be set without consideration for profit.
Meanwhile, AstraZeneca Plc agreed to provide 300 million doses of prospective vaccines in return for funding of US $ 1.2 billion (around Rp.17.36 trillion) paid in advance.
Thus, the price of a COVID-19 vaccine made by AstraZeneca is 4 US dollars (around Rp.57,000) per dose.
The US government has prepared nearly one billion US dollars (around Rp. 14.47 trillion) to support research and development of vaccine candidates made by Moderna Inc.
The fund is part of US President Donald Trump’s policy called “Operation Warp Speed”. The move aims to accelerate the production of the COVID-19 vaccine, which currently has killed more than 650,000 people in hundreds of countries. (Among)
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