Moderna Inc. will keep its COVID-19 vaccines available and free of charge for all people in the U.S. after the public-health emergency ends, the company said late Wednesday. The announcement is something of a coup for Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who chairs the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and had called on Moderna MRNA, -2.80% Chief Executive Stéphane Bancel to testify before Congress on a proposed price increase for the vaccine. In January, the Wall Street Journal reported that the company was considering pricing the vaccine at $110 to $130 per dose, the same price as mooted by Pfizer Inc. PFE, -0.85% and German partner BioNTech BNTX, -4.22% for their vaccine once it moves to a commercial market. The vaccines were being purchased and distributed free of charge by the federal government under emergency declarations that President Joe Biden is planning to end on May 11. Sanders was planning to grill Bancel to highlight what he called the greed of the pharmaceutical industry. The COVID vaccine was developed in cooperation with the National Institutes of Health using taxpayer money. The proposed price increase was “outrageous” and “unconscionable,” Sanders wrote in a letter to Moderna in January. The mRNA-based vaccine was Moderna’s first-ever approved product, and its success has made Bancel and other founding investors billionaires, Sanders said. For uninsured or underinsured people, Moderna said it would provide the vaccine at no cost through its patient-assistance program. “Everyone in the United States will have access to Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine regardless of their ability to pay,” the company said. The news comes as the seven-day average of new U.S. COVID cases continues to fall, standing at 37,840 on Wednesday, according to a New York Times tracker. That’s down 9% from two weeks ago. The daily average for hospitalizations was down 11% to 28,360. The average for deaths was 428, down 6% from two weeks ago. Cases are currently rising in 25 states, led by Montana, where they are up 55% from two weeks ago. On a per capita basis, Kentucky leads with 21 cases per 100,000 residents, the tracker shows.
“Vaccination is the safest way to acquire immunity, whereas acquiring natural immunity must be weighed against the risks of severe illness and death associated with the initial infection,” Dr. Stephen Lim, lead study author and a professor at the University of Washington’s Department of Health Metrics Sciences, said in a statement. Note the study by University of Washington researchers published Feb. 16 in the peer-reviewed journal The Lancet is a meta-analysis of 65 studies from 19 countries; not an original study. Meta-analysis studies have been demonstrated to have issues if any of the underlying studies are either biased, faked, or incorrect. The results of this study shows that you have increased from protection from Covid due to "natural immunity" after catching Covid for a period of time -- which is hardly surprising. However vaccination is still a much safer option. Catching COVID gives you ‘durable’ protection from virus, study finds. For how long? https://www.miamiherald.com/news/coronavirus/article272528432.html
Some news on the test front... FDA authorizes combination flu-COVID test for home use The Food and Drug Administration has approved the first combination test for flu and COVID-19 that can be used at home, giving consumers an easy way to determine if a runny nose is caused by either disease https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/fda-authorizes-combination-flu-covid-test-home-97458943
I think this is the direction a lot of medical testing companies will be going to develop more home testing kits for the consumer market. There are other illnesses too that medical testing companies are developing (have developed) home test kits that are much cheaper than going to the hospital or local clinic that may be using the same home test kits short of a blood test. This Pandemic made us realize that a lot of people did not go to the hospital for other illnesses & diseases out of fear of being surrounded by people sick with Covid. Then again, some illnesses and wellness tests already available on the consumer market (e.g. food sensitivity allergy tests, STD tests, Pregnancy tests, Blood type tests, Metabolism tests, Thyroid tests, Testosterone tests, Cholesterol & Lipid tests, Blood sugar level tests, Single-Use Breathalyzer and so on). It's a big consumer market out there for these types of home testing kits and healthcare nurses that visit you at your home with their equipment for more advanced testing. Heck, there are sports watches on the consumer market that test your blood pressure, oxygen levels, pulse rate, calories burned, Irregular heart rhythm notifications, ECG function, and other heart health monitoring. I wear one myself... a health smartwatch that also does real-time navigational monitoring (map). It is very useful when I am hiking, skiing backcountry, camping, or running the trails along with normal heart health monitoring. A lot of investment opportunities too in my opinion as people wanted more outdoor activities during this Pandemic. wrbtrader