Politics

Sen. Bernie Sanders lambastes big pharma over upcoming price hikes on COVID vaccines

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Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders eviscerated big pharmaceutical companies in an appearance on CBS’ ‘Face the Nation’ on Sunday, slamming them for a planned spike in the price of COVID-19 vaccines.

Sanders, head of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, pledged to use his seat on the panel to question manufacturers of the COVID-19 vaccine over their plans to significantly raise the cost of the jab after it transitions from the government to the private sector in the coming months. “Truth is, [the] pharmaceutical industry is enormously greedy, charging us outrageously, uncontrollably high prices. We’ve got to deal with that. As chairman of the relevant committee, I intend to do what I can.”

Sanders pointed out the hypocrisy of the pharmaceutical companies raising prices on consumers whose tax money funded the research and development of the vaccine in the first place. of course, we want the drug companies to do the research and development,” he said. “By the way, taxpayers of this country spent $45 billion a year through the NIH to help with that research and development, including Moderna and the vaccine.”

In January, a Moderna official revealed to The Wall Street Journal that the company would likely quadruple the cost of the vaccine once the national stockpile runs out. A Pfizer official echoed similar plans, prompting concern on Capitol Hill over the pharmaceutical industry’s “corporate greed.” In a letter to Moderna CEOs in early January, he called the move “unacceptable” and warned it would cost taxpayers “billions of dollars.”

ARTICLE: LAURA SPIVAK

MANAGING EDITOR: LUKE MOCHERMAN

PHOTO CREDIT: THE HILL

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Laura Spivak

Laura is a freelance writer out of Maryland and a mom of three. Her background is in political science and international relations, and she has been doing political writing and editing for 17 years. Laura has also written parenting pieces for the Today Show and is currently working on writing a collection of remarkable true stories about normal people. She writes for FBA because unbiased news is vital to unity, and readers deserve the facts free of opinion.

Laura is a freelance writer out of Maryland and a mom of three. Her background is in political science and international relations, and she has been doing political writing and editing for 17 years. Laura has also written parenting pieces for the Today Show and is currently working on writing a collection of remarkable true stories about normal people. She writes for FBA because unbiased news is vital to unity, and readers deserve the facts free of opinion.

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