Frankfurt: Pharma giants Moderna will charge governments between $25 (Rs 1,800 approximately) and $37 (Rs 2,500) per dose of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate. The exact price of the COVID-19 vaccine will depend upon the amount order. Moderna chief executive Stephane Bancel has been quoted as saying by German weekly ‘Welt am Sonntag’ (WamS) regarding the price. “Our vaccine therefore costs about the same as a flu shot, which is between $10 and $50,” Stephane Bancel said.
An European Union (EU) official involved in the talks about the price said that European Commission wanted to reach a deal with Moderna. The deal would ensure the supply of millions of doses of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate for a price below $25 per dose.
“Nothing is signed yet, but we’re close to a deal with the European Commission. We want to deliver to Europe and are in constructive talks,” Bancel informed ‘WamS’. He added it was just a ‘matter of days’ until a contract would be ready.
Also read: Potential COVID-19 vaccine launch soon: Moderna CEO
Moderna has said its experimental vaccine is 94.5% effective in preventing COVID-19. It is based on interim data from a late-stage clinical trial. Thus Moderna beame the second developer to report results that far exceeded expectations after ‘Pfizer’ and its partner ‘BioNTech’. Both Pfizer and BioNTech have also reported success rate of over 90 per cent in the clinical trials.
It should also be stated here that various other companies are in the last stages of the trials. Oxford University in association with ‘AstraZeneca’ is also preparing a vaccine candidate for COVID-19. Oxford University has said in the recent past that its candidate has proved very effective for elderly and senior people.
As the second wave of coronavirus is hitting various countries and continents across the world, the news of vaccine development has rekindled hopes. People are hoping that with the new vaccines, COVID-19 can finally be defeated and the ‘new normal’ will change to ‘regular normal’ again.