CAPE TOWN – Moderna tried to extract a huge price for its COVID-19 vaccine from the South African government at the height of the pandemic, according to the local NGO, Health Justice Initiative (HJI), in revelations made public this week.
The US-based pharma company wanted to charge $42 per vaccine in mid-2021 when vaccines were scarce, reducing this to $32.30 in the third quarter and $28.50 by the fourth quarter.
In comparison, Pfizer offered its vaccines for $10 per dose over the same period – which, although less than a quarter of Moderna’s ask, was still higher than the price paid by the European Union.
Moderna also expected South Africa to pay to transport the vaccine from its European offices, and demanded broad indemnification clauses and a 15-year confidentiality agreement, according to HJI.
Ultimately, South Africa did not procure vaccines from Moderna.
HJI resorted to the High Court in South Africa to get the correspondence between its government and drug companies during the pandemic, and released a second round of analysis of the documents this week, following a previous analysis in September 2023.
HJI director Fatima Hassan said that their analysis of the negotiation documents, done with the help of the nonprofit consumer advocacy organisation Public Citizen, “reveals a pattern of bullying and attempts to extract one-sided terms, especially by pharma giants Moderna and Pfizer all while they profiteered from a global health emergency”.