Pfizer is making preparations to sell its COVID vaccine commercially as early as next year, and predicts the price per dose will be around $110 to $130. Angela Lukin, Pfizer’s U.S. president, said Thursday that a commercial rollout depends on when its existing U.S. supply runs out and when its federal government contracts expire. The U.S. government is set to end offering free vaccines soon after Congress cut billions of dollars in COVID funding in September. Lukin said it’s unlikely people will pay out of their own pocket as health insurers and employers will likely cover the cost, similar to flu shots. However, the proposed price is far greater than previous doses. The U.S. government paid $19.50 a dose for the Pfizer vaccine under its first contract, and $30.50 under its most recent one. Julia Kosgei, policy adviser to the People’s Vaccine Alliance, a group that advocates for free access to COVID vaccines, called the price hike “obscene” and said experts estimate it costs Pfizer $1.18 to make each dose. “While health workers and the vulnerable continue to go unvaccinated in developing countries, Pfizer is shamelessly fleecing the public for ever-greater sums of money,” she said. Prices for vaccines in the U.S. vary from about $12 to $268.

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