Coronavirus: Thread

[grarpamp]

Federal Government To Stop Paying For COVID Shots, Tests, & Treatments

https://twitter.com/DubbedDan/status/1557710239981617152
https://twitter.com/CeciliaGlennon/status/1560328449373487106

The Biden administration is starting to transition the federal
government away from paying for Covid-19 vaccines, tests and
treatments, with the shift likely to materialize this fall.

"One of the things we've spent a lot of time thinking about in the
last many months...is getting us out of that acute emergency phase
where the US government is buying the vaccines, buying the treatments,
buying the diagnostic tests," White House Covid-19 Response
Coordinator Ashish Jha said at a US Chamber of Commerce Foundation
event on Tuesday.

"My hope is that in 2023, you're going to see the commercialization of
almost all of these products," Jha added. "Some of that is actually
going to begin this fall, in the days and weeks ahead." Earlier this
year, a White House request for another $10 billion in pandemic
response funding stalled in Congress.

On Thursday, The Wall Street Journal reported that, on Aug. 30, the
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will host a meeting of
pharmaceutical companies, state health departments and pharmacies to
start sorting out how to make the transition, which also include
regulatory adjustments.

Referring to the broader transition, Pharmaceutical Research and
Manufacturers of America SVP Anne McDonald Pritchett told the Journal
“there are issues of reimbursement, equitable access to vaccines and
treatment, and distribution that need to be resolved.”

"Resolving the issue of equitable access" loosely translates to
figuring out how to still give many tests, vaccines and treatments
away to the uninsured and others -- so drug companies will still be
reaping some benefit from governmental redistribution of wealth where
Covid-19 is concerned.

The federal government has already stopped buying monoclonal antibody
treatments, such as Eli Lilly's bebtelovimab. The list price is $2,100
a dose, and Lilly is working with HHS to transition to direct sales to
health care providers. At the same time, “Lilly is coordinating with
the US government to identify solutions so that uninsured,
lower-income individuals can access bebtelovimab,” an Eli Lilly
spokeswoman told Bloomberg.

Pfizer and Moderna racked up $79 billion in Covid vaccine sales in
2021 alone, the Journal reports, with sales juiced by public health
officials' false claims of efficacy, coupled with coercive vaccination
requirements imposed by governments, schools and employers.

    Whoopsie...#Biden #vaccine #covid #trust#Bidenlying
pic.twitter.com/WKAkLfUv82
    — Dubb'ed Dan (@DubbedDan) August 11, 2022

Moving forward, Covid-associated prices will be subject to
negotiations among drug-makers, pharmacy benefit managers and
insurance companies. Kaiser Family Foundation executive vice president
Larry Levitt told the Journal the net effect will likely be higher
prices and higher insurance premiums.

    No idea why WSJ thinks that now the pharma companies are going to
make more money. They already profited insanely off of C-19, and a lot
of people didn't even want the shots for free.https://t.co/fcwsyehXMh
    — Cecilia Glennon (@CeciliaGlennon) August 18, 2022

However, after The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that
planning for the transition is getting underway in earnest, shares of
vaccine makers slumped: Moderna was down 5% and Pfizer down nearly 2%.
"Moderna will be at a disadvantage as the Covid-19 vaccines enter the
commercial market, as it goes up against Pfizer, which has a
substantially larger commercial infrastructure," said Josh
Nathan-Kazis of Barron's.

While the inept government middleman was in the mix, Pfizer and
Moderna were happy to churn out far more vaccines than the market
demanded. Between December 2020 and mid-May of this year, US federal
agencies, pharmacies and states threw out a whopping 82.1 million
Covid-19 vaccine doses.

Meanwhile, in mid-October, the Biden administration is expected to
extend the declared Covid-19 public health emergency into January
2023, ensuring midterm voters are still benefitting from expanded
Medicaid coverage and higher payments to hospitals.

What a racket.