Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel defended his company’s decision to drastically increase the cost of the COVID-19 vaccine in a hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee on March 22.
Committee Chairman Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and Ranking Member Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) both thanked Bancel for his company’s work to push out a vaccine at the request of the United States government during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Moderna has proposed that when the government stops its involvement with the procurement and delivery of the vaccine, the price will increase to $130, per dose, which is roughly four times the price at which it was sold to the government during the pandemic….