New York – Doctors Without Borders protested the price of pneumonia vaccines Wednesday by leading a march through midtown Manhattan and delivering a crib filled with flowers to a pharmaceutical company.
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About 70 people walked silently and in single file to Pfizer’s headquarters, where they placed 2,500 flowers in a crib as though laying tribute on a coffin. The flowers represented the number of children who die from pneumonia every day.
The crib was inscribed with the names of more than 370,000 people from 170 countries who had signed a petition for Pfizer Inc. and GlaxoSmithKline PLC, the two companies with pneumonia vaccine patents, to reduce the price of a round of vaccination from $10 per child to $5. Organizers then hauled the crib over to Pfizer representatives instead of handing them the petition on paper.
Advocates especially want cheaper versions to be available in poor countries and for humanitarian groups.
“Pfizer understands the importance of making vaccines available to as many people as possible,” the company said in a statement. “Prevenar 13 is one of the most complex biologics ever developed and it takes 2.5 years to make a single dose.”
The company said it provides the vaccine to eligible countries at a deep discount.
“We continue to help address humanitarian crises through donations of Prevenar 13 to humanitarian organizations and are in active discussions with additional humanitarian organizations to determine if more supply is needed,” it said.
Nearly 1 million children die from pneumonia every year. That number could be reduced “significantly” by lowering the price of the vaccine, which prevents most but not all strains of the disease, Doctors Without Borders spokesman Francois Servranckx said.
“It makes me sad when children die for reasons beyond our control, and it makes me angry when they die from diseases that are treatable or preventable,” said Deane Marchbein, the president of the U.S. board of directors for Doctors Without Borders.
The medical aid group said Pfizer had $6 billion in sales of the pneumonia vaccine in the last year, and the group has been trying to negotiate the vaccine price for the last six years.
Protesters converged on Pfizer headquarters a day before the drug company’s shareholders meeting.
Last month, Doctors Without Borders filed a challenge to Pfizer’s patent application in India, saying it would prevent companies from making more affordable pneumonia vaccines.
I have two issues with this demonstration.
1, The cost is not that high, read the article. The issue is over a cost of $10. You can not compell Pfizer nor anyone to work for free.
2, This group, Doctors without Borders, has caused immense expense to NYC and the USA when their member refused to follow protocol and went all around NYC while sick. Although there was no epidemic, hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent tracking all contacts.
Physicians charge Medicare patients around $160.00 for the Prevnar 13, as well as the same for the older (23) pneumonia vaccine
They should see the new documentary “vaxxed” then they will not be in such a hurry to push these dangerous vaccines.
Fact: Pharmaceutical companies are exempt from liability of vaccine injury or death due to the 1986 vaccine injury act by congress.
Fact: As a result of this act, vaccines do not require the same level of safety testing as all other pharmaceuticals.
In case you have not noticed there is an epidemic of Autism and the rate is rising exponentially. Many parents have reported that their kids became autistic after they received their MMR vaccination.
Bottom line is Vaccines are not safe and have not been adequately tested for safety. Do not believe Government. and Pharmaceutical industry false propaganda.