The cost of vaccinating the world against COVID-19 could be at least five times cheaper if pharmaceutical companies weren’t profiteering from their monopolies on COVID vaccines, according to the People’s vaccine Alliance.

Based on new analysis by the Alliance, current estimates of the cost of production for the successful mRNA COVID vaccines suggest that they can be produced for as little as US$1.18 a dose. Meanwhile, COVAX, the scheme established to help countries get access to COVID vaccines, has been paying, on average, nearly five times more for its doses.

Also, available evidence suggests that firms such as Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna are charging governments as much as US$41 billion above the estimated cost of production. South Africa, for example, may have overpaid as much as $177 million for its doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, in comparison to the estimated cost price.

“Since the start of the pandemic, Moderna, BioNTech and CanSino have created at least nine new vaccine billionaires with a combined net wealth of $19.3 billion.”
People Vaccine Alliance

As per these circumstances, a rapid rise in COVID cases and deaths across the developing world remains a threat and is worrying, which therefore demands a relook at vaccine supply to the region. This notwithstanding, Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna have sold over 90 per cent of their vaccines so far to rich countries. Price charges have risen up to 24 times the potential cost of production.

“The COVAX scheme and developing country governments cannot possibly compete with the high prices willingly paid by rich countries and so are pushed to the back of the vaccine queue. Less than 1 per cent of people in low income countries have had a vaccine.”
People Vaccine Alliance

The call for full transfer of COVID vaccine technology

Only last week, Pfizer/BioNTech announced it would license a South African company to fill and package 100 million doses for use in Africa, but this really is a drop in the ocean of need. In fact, both companies have showed reluctance in fully transferring vaccine technology and know-how with any capable producers in developing countries, a move that could increase global supply, drive down prices and save millions of lives.

The tragedy in this turn of events (vaccine monopoly) is that government budgets that could be paying for more health workers or used to tackle hunger are instead creating extreme wealth, the Alliance indicated.

Moreover, the Alliance of nearly 70 organisations, including the African Alliance, Oxfam and UNAIDS, says the failure of some rich countries to back the removal of monopolies and to drive down these excessive prices has directly contributed to vaccine scarcity in poorer nations.

The Alliance therefore proposed the need to break monopolies and enable generic competition. Accordingly, this is a proven route to increased production and reduced prices of vaccines and medicines, the report indicated.

As such, rich country governments must stop blocking and start supporting the fastest and cheapest route to global vaccination. This, it highlighted as well as calling for rich country governments to insist that vaccine technology and know-how is shared with the WHO’s COVID Technology Access Pool, and immediately agree a temporary waiver of intellectual property rules at the World Trade Organisation for all COVID-19 vaccines, treatments and tests.