|
Dear Friend,
It’s outrageous.
Taxpayers are funding 100% of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine project, but they recently announced to investors that the company will be setting the highest price yet for a COVID-19 vaccine. [1] That’s right: they want us to pay an unfairly high price in order to buy back a vaccine developed with OUR tax dollars.
*Quick signature: Tell our lawmakers to stop pandemic profiteering by big pharma and make the COVID-19 vaccine affordable for all!*When you click, you’ll automatically sign on to this petition.
What’s the deal? The Trump Administration already holds the power to ensure prices are fair for prescription treatments for COVID-19 and a future vaccine. Through the Government Patent Use statute, the federal government has the ability to break pharmaceutical monopolies on patents, keeping drug companies from charging outrageous amounts for medicines. [2] But we’ve already seen price gouging happening for COVID-19 treatment. For example, Gilead, which makes remdesivir, the first medicine shown to have an impact on COVID-19, announce it will charge $2,340 - $3,120 for a five day course—an impossible cost for most every person who gets sick during this world-wide health crisis. [3] This is not okay. If the Trump Administration and Congress continues to allow big pharma to charge whatever it wants for COVID-19 treatments and a future vaccine, the rest of the country will pay the consequences and more people will perish.
The need for safe, effective, and affordable COVID-19 treatments and vaccines is critical. U.S. taxpayers are contributing billions of dollars to R&D efforts, but so far the Trump Administration has refused to guarantee affordability or disclose the terms of contracts it has entered into with prescription drug corporations. It is no wonder that a recent Gallup/West Health poll found that nearly 90% of Americans believe those corporations will take advantage of the pandemic to pad profits. [4]
Sign now! Tell Congress and the Trump administration: The health of America’s families must take precedence over the profits of the pharmaceutical industry.*When you click, you’ll automatically sign on to this petition.
What can be done? We are asking members of Congress to support legislation that will protect against pandemic profiteering and guarantee every person in the U.S. affordable access to COVID-19 treatments and vaccines. No prescription drug corporation should be given monopoly control over prices—especially when they’re using our tax dollars to develop the treatments and vaccines!
In order to fight this pandemic, we need sufficient quantities and affordability to ensure universal access to safe treatments and vaccines. We deserve transparency, including how much taxpayers have contributed and corporations’ costs of production. That is why we need the passage of the Make Medications Affordable by Preventing Pandemic Price Gouging (MMAPPP) Act and the Taxpayer Research and Coronavirus Knowledge (TRACK) Act to be included within COVID-19 legislation!
Sign now to make sure that no one is priced out of life-saving COVID-19 treatments and vaccines!*When you click, you’ll automatically sign on to this petition.
Sign our petition to President Trump, Secretary Azar of the Department of Health and Human Services, and Congress which reads:
As coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) spreads, we need a strong response from the United States government in order to save lives and rein in the costs of medical treatment. We need protection against pandemic profiteering by big pharmaceutical corporations and a guarantee that every person will have access to affordable COVID-19 treatments and vaccines developed with taxpayer dollars.
No prescription drug corporation should be given monopoly control over prices for life saving medications and a future vaccine! In order to fight this pandemic, we need sufficient quantities to ensure universal access to safe, affordable treatments and vaccines. We deserve transparency, including how much taxpayers have contributed and corporations’ costs of production. That is why I am asking you to support the passage of the Make Medications Affordable by Preventing Pandemic Pricegouging (MMAPPP) Act and the Taxpayer Research and Coronavirus Knowledge (TRACK) Act.
When the world is increasingly at risk, treatments and vaccines must be developed quickly and made affordable and accessible to the public—especially when our tax dollars are being used to do so. The health of America’s families must take precedence over the profits of the pharmaceutical industry.
Don’t forget to sign now! Tell Congress and the Trump administration to prevent pandemic profiteering!*When you click, you’ll automatically sign on to this petition.
The more people who speak out, the bigger our impact. Please take a moment to forward our action link to your friends and family and share our action link on social media: https://action.momsrising.org/sign/no-pandemic-profiteering-big-pharma/
Together we are a powerful voice for the health of families.
--Tasmiha, Felicia, Donna and the whole MomsRising / MamásConPoder team
References:
[1] Axios, "Moderna skirts disclosures of coronavirus vaccine costs"
[2] Cornell Law School, "Patent and copyright cases"
[3] STAT News, "Gilead announces long-awaited price for Covid-19 drug remdesivir"
[4] Gallup, "In U.S., Large Racial Divide in COVID-19 Cost Concerns"
Register to vote! / ¡Regístrese para votar!
Join our Spanish language community, MamásConPoder.org
What should MomsRising tackle next? Tell us!
You can unsubscribe from this mailing list at any time.