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E-DRUG: MSF says global vaccines community must bring price of new vaccines down
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Ahead of tomorrow's Global Vaccines Summit, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF)
is urging the vaccines community to bring down the current sky-high prices
of new vaccines and for GAVI to open up its discounted vaccine prices to
humanitarian actors who can often reach children in vulnerable groups or in
remote settings.
MSF has issued a press release (bottom), a series of infographics
highlighting the high cost of new vaccines and asking GAVI to open up its
pricing
(http://www.msfaccess.org/content/infographics-vaccines-shouldnt-be-big-business-poor-countries),
and animations illustrating high prices and the lack of adapted vaccines
(http://www.msfaccess.org/content/animations-high-prices-inappropriate-tools-prevent-msf-reaching-more-kids-vaccines)
[Please fix URLs in browser if broken - moderator]
MSF has also launched a Twitter campaign specifically asking GAVI to allow
humanitarian actors like MSF - who can often reach vulnerable children
others can't - access to GAVI prices for vaccines. PLEASE TWEET and support
us by calling on GAVI to allow actors to vaccinate even more children by
opening up their prices.
[Please contact the sender at Joanna.Keenan[AT]geneva.msf.org for possible tweets and/or visit the site http://www.msfaccess.org/content/dear-gavi-campaign for more information. DB]
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PRESS RELEASE
Global vaccines community must bring price of new vaccines down
MSF calls on GAVI and pharmaceutical companies to extend discounts
so more children can be reached
ABU DHABI, 23 April 2013 - On the eve of the high-level Global Vaccines
Summit hosted by Ban Ki-Moon, Bill Gates and General Sheikh Mohamed bin
Zayed Al Nahyan, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, international medical
humanitarian organisation Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) warned that high
prices for new vaccines could put developing countries in the precarious
situation of not being able to afford to fully vaccinate their children in
the future.
"Urgent action is needed to address the skyrocketing price to vaccinate a
child, which has risen by 2,700 percent over the last decade," said Dr.
Manica Balasegaram, Executive Director of MSF's Access Campaign. "Countries
where we work will lose their donor support to pay for vaccines soon, and
will have to decide which killer diseases they can and can't afford to
protect their children against."
The "Decade of Vaccines," the global vaccination initiative for the next
ten years, is estimated to cost US$57 billion, with more than half going to
pay for the vaccines themselves. In 2001, it cost $1.37 to fully vaccinate
a child against six diseases. While 11 vaccines are included in today's
vaccines package, the total price has risen to $38.80, largely because two
expensive new vaccines - against pneumococcal disease and rotavirus - have
been added, which make up three-quarters of that cost. They are only
produced by Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), and Merck. Newer vaccines are
significantly more expensive: vaccinating a child against measles costs
$0.25, while protecting a child against pneumococcal diseases costs, at
best, $21.
MSF vaccinates millions of people each year and fully supports the
introduction of new vaccines in developing countries. But negotiations
between companies and the largely taxpayer-funded GAVI Alliance for the
newest vaccines have not resulted in deeper price cuts that would help more
children benefit. The lack of transparency by companies on vaccine
manufacturing costs and their focus on profits above ensuring sustainable
prices for vaccines for low-income countries are at the root of the
problem.
GAVI has recently announced a new deal to reduce the price of pentavalent
vaccine. This is an excellent example of what GAVI can achieve, especially
when there are multiple vaccine manufacturers in a market and healthy
competition. GAVI should urgently prioritise further negotiations for the
two newest and most expensive vaccines and pharmaceutical companies should
come to the table to offer GAVI better deals.
"When you start from over-inflated prices charged in rich countries, even
getting 90 percent off means paying a price that is much too high for poor
countries to afford long term," said Kate Elder, Vaccines Policy Advisor at
MSF's Access Campaign. "The goal here is to get more children vaccinated
with taxpayers' money. To do that, we need to see prices much closer to the
cost of production. GAVI should do more to speed up the entrance of
manufacturers with lower costs, so that real competition can lower prices.
This is particularly important for the newest vaccines which are
unreasonably expensive."
MSF is also troubled by the fact that non-governmental organisations and
humanitarian actors are excluded from accessing the GAVI-negotiated price
discounts. MSF is often in a position to vaccinate vulnerable groups, such
as refugee children, HIV-positive children and older unvaccinated children
who fall outside of the typical age range for standard vaccination
programmes. However, MSF has not been able to systematically access the
lowest prices negotiated by GAVI, having to resort to lengthy negotiations
with Pfizer and GSK over the last four years to access the pneumococcal
vaccine. While the companies have offered MSF donations, this is not a
sustainable, long-term solution for MSF as we work to respond quickly to
needs in the field, and wish to expand vaccination of vulnerable groups in
an increasing number of countries.
"We're asking GAVI to open up their discounted vaccine pricing to
humanitarian actors that are often best placed to respond to vaccinating
people in crisis," said Dr. Balasegaram.
Joanna Keenan
Press Officer
Medecins Sans Frontieres - Access Campaign
P: +41 22 849 87 45
M: +41 79 203 13 02
E: joanna.keenan[at]geneva.msf.org
T: twitter.com/joanna_keenan
msfaccess.org
twitter.com/MSF_access
facebook.com/MSFaccess