Moderna Drops 400% Vax Price Hike After Bernie Promised to Grill CEO

Just hours after Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) swore to question Moderna’s chief executive in a Senate hearing next month about plans to quadruple the price of its COVID-19 vaccine, the company abruptly reversed course, announcing in a statement that the vaccine would remain free to all consumers “regardless of their ability to pay.” The pharmaceutical giant was widely denounced last month in the wake of reports it was considering jacking up the price of its jabs more than 400 percent—to $130 per dose. The Biden administration also unveiled the expected end of a public health emergency in May, which would have left uninsured Americans paying out of pocket. In an interview with The Washington Post published around noon on Wednesday, Sanders said he had Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel in his sights. “We’re going to ask them, ‘Hey, you made billions of dollars in profit on a vaccine that was developed because of taxpayer support… you’ve become a multibillionaire, and you think it’s appropriate to cost the federal government even more money by quadrupling prices?’” Sanders said. “And I hope, I really do hope, that these people will reconsider this outrageous decision and decide not to raise prices for the vaccine.”