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To: Ian Read, CEO of Pfizer, Inc.
Pfizer's greed denies millions of American children routine vaccinations
American children are required to get four doses of the life-saving vaccine Prevnar before entering school. But Pfizer has priced the drug, on which it holds a monopoly, at over 40 times its actual cost, and insurance companies won't reimburse the full amount. So doctors across the United States have stopped providing vaccines, endangering the lives of infants, children, elderly and the immune-deficient. Pfizer, stop making money off the backs of our children -- make Prevnar affordable now!
Why is this important?
Over the past 20 years, childhood vaccines have saved 732,000 American children from dying. Vaccines are the greatest public health achievement in human history, and free coverage is required in the Affordable Care Act. In the US, kids are required to get four doses of Prevnar, which prevents 13 infectious diseases, before entering school.
But moms like Breanna Farris of San Antonio, Texas, can't find a doctor who'll vaccinate their children. Breanna's insurance wouldn't reimburse her doctor the full, astronomical cost Pfizer and other Big Pharma are charging, so her family physician stopped vaccinating children entirely. Breanna had to go to a public clinic and lie, saying she had no insurance, to get her daughter vaccinated so she could attend school.
Pfizer is charging doctors around $136 a shot for Prevnar, saying the price is justified because the vaccine cost $600 million to produce. But Pfizer didn't develop the drug or build its manufacturing facility, both of which it purchased in 2009. Since then, the price has gone up 6% each year, and the company has earned $4 billion in revenue on Prevnar, making it the world's best-selling vaccine. Pfizer's CEO Ian Read takes home a hefty $25 million a year.
The most ludicrous part is that Pfizer sells the same exact drug to poor countries at $3.30 a dose, and still turns a profit.
Meanwhile we have a whooping cough epidemic in the United States which has already infected over 3,000 people and killed two infants. Fewer than 10% of pregnant American women are vaccinated for whooping cough because the medicine is too expensive for their doctors to purchase.
Tell Pfizer's CEO that in America, our people come before profits. Moms like Breanna Farris are trying to do the responsible thing for their kids, communities and country by vaccinating. But Pfizer's corporate greed is putting millions of lives at risk. We have the power to step up and say no!
Read More: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/03/health/Vaccine-Costs-Soaring-Paying-Till-It-Hurts.html?module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3Aw
But moms like Breanna Farris of San Antonio, Texas, can't find a doctor who'll vaccinate their children. Breanna's insurance wouldn't reimburse her doctor the full, astronomical cost Pfizer and other Big Pharma are charging, so her family physician stopped vaccinating children entirely. Breanna had to go to a public clinic and lie, saying she had no insurance, to get her daughter vaccinated so she could attend school.
Pfizer is charging doctors around $136 a shot for Prevnar, saying the price is justified because the vaccine cost $600 million to produce. But Pfizer didn't develop the drug or build its manufacturing facility, both of which it purchased in 2009. Since then, the price has gone up 6% each year, and the company has earned $4 billion in revenue on Prevnar, making it the world's best-selling vaccine. Pfizer's CEO Ian Read takes home a hefty $25 million a year.
The most ludicrous part is that Pfizer sells the same exact drug to poor countries at $3.30 a dose, and still turns a profit.
Meanwhile we have a whooping cough epidemic in the United States which has already infected over 3,000 people and killed two infants. Fewer than 10% of pregnant American women are vaccinated for whooping cough because the medicine is too expensive for their doctors to purchase.
Tell Pfizer's CEO that in America, our people come before profits. Moms like Breanna Farris are trying to do the responsible thing for their kids, communities and country by vaccinating. But Pfizer's corporate greed is putting millions of lives at risk. We have the power to step up and say no!
Read More: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/03/health/Vaccine-Costs-Soaring-Paying-Till-It-Hurts.html?module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3Aw