MSF calls on Pfizer and GSK to lower vaccine prices for refugee children

Pharmaceutical companies are making it exorbitantly expensive to vaccinate vulnerable children, the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) warned today, calling on Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) and GlaxoSmithKline (LSE: GSK) to lower the price of the pneumonia vaccine (PCV) for governments and humanitarian organizations working in emergency contexts.

In recent weeks, MSF has vaccinated more than 5,000 refugee children between six months and 15 years of age in camps and settlements across Greece. Using multiple vaccines, the campaign is targeting 10 diseases including pneumonia, which is the single largest killer of children under five worldwide and is particularly acute in humanitarian crises.

MSF purchased the pneumonia vaccine for 60 euros, or about $68, per dose from local pharmacies in Greece. The price is 20 times more than the lowest global price of the vaccine, which is roughly $3.10 per dose.