Pfizer and Moderna raise Covid-19 vaccine prices for EU

The pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and Moderna raised the prices for their Covid-19 vaccines in a deal with the EU, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.

Pfizer vaccines now cost 19.50 euros per dose, instead of 15.50 euros. Moderna increased their prices from 19 euros to 21.50 euros per vaccine. A source told Financial Times that the pharmaceutical companies decided to raise the charges because their vaccines have a higher efficiency rate than the ones from their competitors, Janssen and AstraZeneca.

Professor for Health Economics at the University of Groningen Jochen Mierau said to RTL Nieuws he thinks the price increase is logical from a business viewpoint but can have worrisome consequences. “Earlier on, there was a lot of competition but now only a few producers are left.”

The new deals with the EU were said to bring in several billion for the pharmaceutical companies every year. “They already earned back their investment. Everything that they make now is pure profit”, Mierau said.

Moderna was said to have an efficiency rate of 97 percent. The efficiency of the Pfizer vaccine lay at 96 percent at its peak, although these results have been debated in recent publications.

Both the Moderna and Pfizer vaccine are likely more effective after a third dose, adding to the demand for both vaccines.

In May, the EU closed a deal with Pfizer for 1.8 billion Covid-19 vaccines. At the end of June, the European Commission announced that they bought 150 million additional vaccines from Moderna.