
As government funding dries up, Pfizer expects to charge private payers $110+ for Covid-19 vaccine
For months, companies behind Covid-19 vaccines and therapies have been talking about transitioning to a private commercial market once the government funding dries up. As its purchase program with the US comes to an end, Pfizer is putting a dollar figure to the discussion.

Pfizer plans to charge $110 to $130 for its BioNTech-partnered Covid-19 shot, almost quadrupling the price, Angela Lukin, global primary care & US president, told Reuters and Wall Street Journal.
Analysts and investors have long speculated about how the waning demand on Covid-19 vaccines might affect the bottom line of major vaccine makers and put pressure on prices — not just at Pfizer but also at Moderna and Novavax.
Lukin added that the company expects the cost to be borne by insurers, meaning people on private or government insurance will still get the vaccine for free, as they do now.
Her comments come as the US CDC’s advisory committee on vaccines voted to add Covid-19 jabs to the agency’s recommended immunization schedules for physicians.
“We are confident that the US price point of the Covid-19 vaccine reflects its overall cost effectiveness and ensures the price will not be a barrier for access for patients,” Lukin said, per Reuters.
The pharma giant — which prices its vaccines differently in different markets and already raised prices slightly as it went through multiple purchase deals — has suggested since early last year that it would hike the price of its vaccine as the pandemic wanes and it shifts into marketing annual vaccinations for Covid-19, much like the flu.
Based on already secured supply contracts, Pfizer forecasts $32 billion in 2022 sales from its Covid-19 vaccines, including the latest Omicron-specific bivalent booster.