New childhood vaccines are being massively overpriced, leading to the cost of protecting children soaring worldwide, a major medical charity alleged today.
The cost of vaccinating a child fully is now 68 times what it was ten years ago, according to Médecins Sans Frontières.
MSF points the finger in particular at the vaccine for pneumococcus, calling for pharmaceutical companies to cut it to five dollars a month.
It said childhood vaccination in poor countries was going to cost donors some 7.5 billion dollars extra over the next five years.
And several countries, such as Angola and Bolivia, will lose the financial support they get for vaccinations from an international organisation Gavi over the next few years, according to MSF. This would leave them paying 10 dollars a child for the pneumococcal vaccine.
Kate Elder, from MSF, said: “We have an irrational situation where some developing countries like Morocco and Tunisia are paying more for the pneumococcal vaccine than France does.
“Because of the astronomical cost of new vaccines, many governments are facing tough choices about which deadly diseases they can afford to protect their children against.”
She added: “We need to put public health before profit—life-saving vaccines for children shouldn’t be big business in poor countries."
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