“How Much Will It Cost to Get a COVID-19 Vaccine? - Healthline” plus 1 more
“How Much Will It Cost to Get a COVID-19 Vaccine? - Healthline” plus 1 more |
| How Much Will It Cost to Get a COVID-19 Vaccine? - Healthline Posted: 29 Nov 2020 05:30 AM PST 
A COVID-19 vaccine may be approved for use by the end of December. The U.S. federal government has poured billions of dollars into the development of vaccines. They have also put in orders for hundreds of millions of doses. AstraZeneca announced Nov. 23 that its COVID-19 vaccine is 70 percent effective, making it the third vaccine shown to be effective at preventing a severe case of COVID-19. Pfizer and Moderna recently announced their vaccines were nearly 95 percent effective. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will now evaluate the clinical trial data, and if all goes to plan, grant emergency use authorization (EUA) in mid-December. If and when vaccines are approved, doses will be shipped and distributed within 24 hours. Top health officials expect high-priority groups — such as older adults most at risk and frontline workers — to be vaccinated by the time the holidays roll around. Developing and manufacturing these vaccines has come with a hefty price tag. Here's a breakdown of what the government has funded and how much each vaccine will cost. The federal government has partnered up with Moderna, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Novavax, and AstraZeneca to help develop, produce, and administer COVID-19 vaccines as quickly as possible. Under Operation Warp Speed, the federal government has pledged close to $9 billion to fund the development and production of the vaccines. Moderna received nearly $1 billion for its COVID-19 vaccine development and is set to receive an additional $1.5 billion for 100 million doses. Pfizer, with its German partner BioNTech, will be given $1.95 billion for 100 million doses, but received no federal funding for the research and development of their vaccine. Johnson & Johnson received $456 million for vaccine research and development and will be paid $1 billion for 100 million doses. Novavax will get $1.6 billion in federal funding for research, development, and 100 million doses. AstraZeneca is set to receive $1.2 billion that will cover 300 million doses along with certain costs pertaining to phase 3 clinical trials and manufacturing. The federal government will likely purchase additional doses in the coming months. Already, the government has pledged to purchase an additional 500 million doses from Pfizer and may buy 200 million more from Johnson & Johnson. "The huge [amount of] money that we spent in this case is unprecedented. It's never happened before," said Haizhen Lin, an associate professor of business economics and public policy at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business and a faculty research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research. It's worth noting that many details included in these contracts have not been made public, said Lin. The cost for each dose ranges from $3 to $37, depending on the vaccine. Moderna, a two-dose vaccine, recently announced each dose will go for around $32 to $37. The Pfizer vaccine, also given in two doses, is expected to cost $19.50 a dose. Each dose for Johnson & Johnson's two-dose vaccine will cost an estimated $10, and AstraZeneca's two-dose vaccine could be the cheapest at just $3 to $4 a dose. Novavax's two-dose vaccine is estimated to be $16 a dose. No individuals — regardless of whether they're uninsured, have private health insurance, or have Medicare or Medicaid — will pay out of pocket for the vaccine itself, federal health officials have previously stated. "Vaccine doses purchased with U.S. taxpayer dollars will be given to the American people at no cost," the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states. Certain vaccine providers may charge an administration fee for giving the shot, but individuals can have that fee reimbursed. "Vaccine providers can get this fee reimbursed by the patient's public or private insurance company or, for uninsured patients, by the Health Resources and Services Administration's Provider Relief Fund," the CDC states. In addition to funding the research, development, and production of the vaccines, the federal government will also team up with McKesson to distribute the vaccines. The one known exception here is Pfizer, which will handle the distribution of their vaccine, according to Soumi Saha, the senior director of advocacy at the healthcare improvement firm Premier, Inc. The government has also created ancillary kits that contain needles, syringes, and personal protective equipment (PPE). There are several other costs pertaining to the vaccine that remain unclear. There are also storage costs, as some of the vaccines need to be kept in ultra-cold temperatures that many hospitals and retail pharmacies don't have on-site. "The costs that are unclear with the vaccine right now are, for example, hospitals, healthcare providers, pharmacies that are purchasing ultra-low freezers for the Pfizer vaccine, or the cost associated with the dry ice that they're going to be using to replenish those Pfizer suitcases," said Saha. "How are those costs reimbursed or accounted for?" Funding is also needed to pay and train healthcare workers who will administer the vaccines, Lin noted. Experts also expect the cost of the vaccine to increase after the pandemic. "The initial doses will be government purchased and government provided," said Saha. What remains unclear is how the vaccine will be priced for general consumption once the initial government-purchased doses run out. Typically, vaccine costs are unregulated and private companies have the freedom to set the prices, according to Lin. The post-pandemic vaccination costs will largely depend on demand. More research is needed to determine if people will need booster shots over the year to maintain immunity, or if the vaccine will need to be given annually like the flu shot. "In the long run, we don't know that price," said Lin. The federal government has poured billions of dollars into COVID-19 vaccine research, development, and production. Under Operation Warp Speed, as soon as the vaccines receive emergency approval by the FDA, which could come as early as mid-December, millions of doses will be distributed across the country to high-risk groups. The vaccines will be available for Americans at no cost, but some providers may tack on administration fees that can be reimbursed. |
| Posted: 29 Nov 2020 07:19 AM PST  Some evidence suggests SARS-CoV-2 originated in bats. International taskforce announced to look into origins of SARS-CoV-2, which sparked COVID-19 pandemic nearly one year ago. Named to taskforce is scientific director of Duke-NUS' ABSL3 facility, which provided early advantage to Singapore by quickly isolating, characterizing SARS-CoV-2, enabling swift development of diagnostic tests, evaluation of potential treatments. Nearly a year since the world first learned of the novel coronavirus disease 2019, COVID-19, many questions remain about SARS-CoV-2, the virus behind this pandemic: Where did it come from, how did it spread so widely and rapidly, and how can we stop similar outbreaks in the future? Recently, EcoHealth Alliance, a global nonprofit working at the intersection of animal, environmental and human health, announced the establishment of an international task force to investigate these questions as part of The Lancet COVID-19 Commission. Dr. Danielle Anderson, scientific director of Duke-NUS Medical School's Animal Biosafety Level 3 (ABSL3) research facility in Singapore, is among the taskforce's 12 members, who hail from a diverse set of scientific disciplines and backgrounds, with expertise in One Health, outbreak investigation, virology, lab biosecurity, and disease ecology. "This is an important investigation not only to understand the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic, but to ensure history does not repeat," said Dr. Anderson, who is also an assistant professor in Duke-NUS' Emerging Infectious Diseases Programme. "As a virologist who has worked in high-biosecurity containment labs worldwide, I look forward to bringing my experience and expertise to bear in the search for answers." The Duke-NUS ABSL3 facility and its expert scientific staff have been central in the response to COVID-19 in Singapore. In fact, Dr. Anderson played a key role in the early isolation of the virus (making Singapore the third country in the world to do so) and subsequent work to develop a serological test that can specifically detect antibodies able to neutralize the SARS-CoV-2 virus. "Understanding the origins of the coronavirus pandemic is critical for developing preventive measures for the future," said Professor Thomas Coffman, dean of Duke-NUS Medical School. "We are pleased that Dr. Anderson will be representing Duke-NUS and Singapore on this taskforce, and we are fully committed to supporting its important work." The task force is led by Dr. Peter Daszak, president of EcoHealth Alliance, and chaired by Dr. Jeffrey D. Sachs, professor and director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University. "We intend to conduct a thorough and rigorous investigation into the origins and early spread of SARS-CoV-2," said Dr. Daszak, a disease ecologist who has spent years studying coronavirus transmission in China and Southeast Asia. "Our group will use the findings to formulate One Health solutions for managing future zoonotic disease risk." In its investigation, the task force will recreate a complete timeline of the outbreak of COVID-19, starting from the discovery of RaTG13—the closest known viral relative of SARS-CoV-2—in 2013 and up to the WHO's declaration of COVID-19 as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on January 30, 2020. They will analyze the available evidence for each of the hypotheses put forward on the origins of COVID-19, and compare its early spread and outbreak control to previous outbreaks to identify strategies that might assist future pandemic prevention. "There is a great deal of interest in understanding how COVID-19 emerged and spread, but there is a deeper reason for this taskforce's work," Dr. Sachs, The Lancet COVID-19 Commission chair, said. "If we can understand why this pandemic began, we can design solutions to prevent the next one." More information on The Lancet COVID-19 Commission and this taskforce can be found at covid19commission.org/origins-of-the-pandemic. |
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