What the EU paid for various COVID vaccines

[cormanr7]

Much to the chagrin of various pharmaceutical companies, a Belgian minister has 'accidently'  tweeted the cost of various COVID vaccines ordered by the EU (it would sure have been nice if they had given the data in one currency instead of having the reader re-calculate everything) https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/18/belgian-minister-accidentally-tweets-eus-covid-vaccine-price-list  The differences are staggering. Billions of public money has gone into research leading to these potential vaccines but one wonders if some companies blatantly exploit this.

[Mavideol]

4 hours ago, cormanr7 said:

Much to the chagrin of various pharmaceutical companies, a Belgian minister has 'accidently'  tweeted the cost of various COVID vaccines ordered by the EU (it would sure have been nice if they had given the data in one currency instead of having the reader re-calculate everything) https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/18/belgian-minister-accidentally-tweets-eus-covid-vaccine-price-list  The differences are staggering. Billions of public money has gone into research leading to these potential vaccines but one wonders if some companies blatantly exploit this.

highway robbery from some pharmaceutical companies, how can something cost 1.78 Euro from one supplier and 18 USD or 14.68 Euro from another one

[bkk6060]

33 minutes ago, Mavideol said:

highway robbery from some pharmaceutical companies, how can something cost 1.78 Euro from one supplier and 18 USD or 14.68 Euro from another one

Highway robbery? How?  Because the cheap vaccine developed by Oxford has not even been approved and has had questionable results.

These are the documented results:

Overall, the vaccine was found to be 70% effective.

For the majority of people in the trial who got two full doses the figure was 62%.

However, for a small group who got a half dose and then a full dose, that figure was 90%. It's not clear yet why the results were better for this group.

 

So, how much is your life worth?

I am very happy to pay a much higher price for a more effective proven vaccine thank you.

 

PS:  Thailand has committed to the cheap vaccine which I personally will not be taking.

 

[drenddy]

While Salk, the guy with polio vaccine, when asked, why he didn’t patent it, answered : "Can you patent the sun?" 

[DrDave]

6 hours ago, Mavideol said:

highway robbery from some pharmaceutical companies, how can something cost 1.78 Euro from one supplier and 18 USD or 14.68 Euro from another one

 

How can one determine that the price is "highway robbery" without knowing the actual research, development, clinical testing and manufacturing cost of each of the vaccines?  I would assume that these costs vary widely among the vaccines listed.

[simple1]

5 hours ago, DrDave said:

 

How can one determine that the price is "highway robbery" without knowing the actual research, development, clinical testing and manufacturing cost of each of the vaccines?  I would assume that these costs vary widely among the vaccines listed.

 

Considering the vaccines took less than a year to develop and nations are each placing orders worth billions of dollars with suppliers, one has to consider whether price gouging is happening. It would be interesting to read the annual reports for profit in the next tax year. As an example; each national holiday here in Australia petrol prices increase by about 25% for the holiday period, blatant price gouging, yet government does nothing.

Edited December 19, 2020 by simple1