Not that I'm excited for it, just doesn't seem all that different
The price is just a game for discounts, insurance deals, government payouts, all shenanigans.
Most significant, no reason to get too incensed by this article.
And that's all fine; this is obviously a good way to spend government money as far as I'm concerned, and I don't really have any problems with Pfizer making a profit of it either, but ... there needs to be some balance. These people are socialist when it's convenient and then the next day they're hard-core capitalists when it's convenient.
[1]: https://biontechse.gcs-web.com/news-releases/news-release-de...
[2]: https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/forefront.20210512....
Your opinion is appreciate but I disagree heartily.
This article does not strike me at all as clickbait, and it completely worthy of "getting incensed" in my view.
The way you describe the Oxfam "claim" while correct, is a strawman argument. Why, because they were already managing to capture $20 - $30 a dose.
This is still a problem that affects us all. Not saying that it would be less bad if it didn't affect us, but I mean that a hard-fought vaccine for a niche illness could have to be expensive to amortize development costs. Covid is not that.
Ps and like @Beltalowda says a lot of their R&D was publicly funded. And they got a huge boost by bringing their thus far experimental RNA vaccine tech into the mainstream.
Why do you feel the need that Pfizer deserves to not make a profit/why do you have an issue with the amount of profit Pfizer aims/wants to make/why do you feel your opinion on the subject matters/why do you feel qualified to "pick a bone" with how much profit Pfizer wants to make/why is it worth getting upset about/what control over the situation do you have that makes it worth your time/thought/resources?
Meanwhile they think Twitter is literally just fascist or something (whereas just a little while ago it was a private business free to do whatever it wanted, when they were censoring unfavorable media about political opponents as well as the opponents themselves). They flip flop like a weathervane in a hurricane.
And then we must recall that people are forced to pay for millions of doses by governments that are then left to expire because people didn't want them. A problem that does not happen if you let people make up their own mind whether to buy or not using their own funds. So there is still enormous levels of coercion involved with forcing people to "buy" this product.
Also these companies have gotten a huge boost by fast tracking their RNA tech. If it hadn't been for covid it would have still been experimental years away from widespread deployment. And the R&D is well written off by now.
I think they owe society a lot more than we owe them.
If the committee votes in favor, vaccine makers’ liability for injuries will transfer from the corporations to the federal government’s National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) – effectively shifting the financial responsibility for the shots to the tax payer.
Pfizer and Moderna have so far been temporarily shielded from liability through the PREP Act, but that protection will end in 2023."
Let's not even touch the ethical baggage associated with excessive greed at the cost of lives.
"Private payers, especially large-volume purchasers, are able to negotiate deep discounts with drug manufacturers. Many private payers, including employers and managed care organizations, often contract with pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) to manage prescription drug benefits for their enrollees."
The same is true for government health care programs.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK561162/
Without more data, it's hard to know how much above the origianl $30 Pfizer will actual make per dose.
