Big Pharma Rakes in Billions from U.S. Taxpayers for Coronavirus Vaccine
by John Binder
Big pharmaceutical corporations are raking in billions from American taxpayers through the United States government deals that are funding research for a vaccine to the Chinese coronavirus.
In May, President Donald Trump’s administration created Operation Warp Speed (OWS) to partner with pharmaceutical corporations in researching, developing, and administering a vaccine for the coronavirus at a record pace.
As a result, the administration is cutting deals for pharmaceutical corporations that deliver them billions in taxpayer dollars for vaccine research and development.
Most recently, the France-based pharmaceutical corporation Sanofi and GSK scored a $2.1 billion federal contract for 100 million doses of a vaccine with potentially the option to buy another 500 million doses. Sanofi profits total nearly $38 billion.
Similarly, Pfizer and BioNTech won a $1.95 billion federal contract for an initial 100 million doses of their yet-to-be-developed vaccine for coronavirus. Pfizer is the largest multinational pharmaceutical corporation in the world with profits over $53 billion.
Other pharmaceutical corporations who have been awarded federal funds include:
- Nearly $1 billion to Moderna
- About $420 million to Johnson & Johnson
- $1 billion to AstraZeneca
- $1.6 billion to Novavax
- $450 million to Regeneron Pharmaceuticals