Moderna will keep its COVID vaccine on the market at no cost to consumers, even after the federal government stops paying for it, the company announced Wednesday. “Everyone in the United States will have access to Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine regardless of their ability to pay,” the company said in a statement.
Last month, the vaccine maker was slammed for reportedly considering a dramatic price increase for the shot, which it had developed with the help of the federal government. The proposal was also bad timing: The Biden administration was moving toward ending its designation of a public health emergencyon May 11, which meant that federal funding for vaccines would soon dry up and uninsured Americans would have to pay out of pocket for their boosters.
Among the critics of Moderna’s reported consideration of a price increase — from about $26 a shot to as much as $130 — was Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has long advocated for government-funded health care and alleged the move would result in deaths. “How many of these Americans will die from COVID 19 as a result of limited access to these lifesaving vaccines?” Sanders, I-Vt., wrote in a January letter to Moderna.