<p>The head of Pfizer said Thursday the company's Covid vaccine, among the priciest on the market, is no more expensive than the cost of a meal and will not be sold to poor countries for a profit.</p>.<p>The head of the US-based company defended the cost of the jabs, which he said are saving lives and can help countries emerge from the pandemic.</p>.<p>"Vaccines are very expensive," Albert Bourla said in an interview with several media.</p>.<p>"They save human lives, they allow economies to reopen, but we sell them at the price of a meal," he said in the interview with Les Echos in France, Germany's Handelsblatt, Italy's Corriere Della Sera and El Mundo in Spain.</p>.<p><strong>Read | <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/international/western-warnings-tarnish-covid-19-vaccines-the-world-badly-needs-974398.html" target="_blank">Western warnings tarnish Covid-19 vaccines the world badly needs</a></strong></p>.<p>Developed jointly with Germany-based BioNTech, the Pfizer vaccine is, along with Moderna, the vaccine that has cost the European Union the most, according to data released several months ago by a member of the Belgian government.</p>.<p>And Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov warned earlier this week that Brussels was facing a huge price hike as it negotiates nearly two billion additional doses of the vaccine for the coming years.</p>.<p>"Pfizer was 12 euros ($14), then it became 15 euros. Contracts are now being signed... at a price of 19.50 euros," Borissov said on Sunday.</p>.<p>The prices are in sharp contrast to the vaccine produced by British-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca, which vowed not to make a profit on its product during the pandemic and sold it to the EU for less than two euros a unit.</p>.<p>Bourla did not confirm the price of the Pfizer vaccine but admitted that it was sold at a higher price to developed countries like those in the EU or the United States.</p>.<p>"In middle-income countries, we sell it for half the price," he said.</p>.<p>"In poorer countries, including in Africa, we sell it at cost."</p>.<p>However, many observers doubted the Pfizer vaccine was being widely distributed in African countries because the product has to be stored in ultra-cold freezers of about minus 70 degrees Celsius (minus 94 Fahrenheit) or below.</p>.<p>Bourla said the company was working on a new formula that would allow the vaccine to be stored for four to six months at a normal temperature.</p>
<p>The head of Pfizer said Thursday the company's Covid vaccine, among the priciest on the market, is no more expensive than the cost of a meal and will not be sold to poor countries for a profit.</p>.<p>The head of the US-based company defended the cost of the jabs, which he said are saving lives and can help countries emerge from the pandemic.</p>.<p>"Vaccines are very expensive," Albert Bourla said in an interview with several media.</p>.<p>"They save human lives, they allow economies to reopen, but we sell them at the price of a meal," he said in the interview with Les Echos in France, Germany's Handelsblatt, Italy's Corriere Della Sera and El Mundo in Spain.</p>.<p><strong>Read | <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/international/western-warnings-tarnish-covid-19-vaccines-the-world-badly-needs-974398.html" target="_blank">Western warnings tarnish Covid-19 vaccines the world badly needs</a></strong></p>.<p>Developed jointly with Germany-based BioNTech, the Pfizer vaccine is, along with Moderna, the vaccine that has cost the European Union the most, according to data released several months ago by a member of the Belgian government.</p>.<p>And Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov warned earlier this week that Brussels was facing a huge price hike as it negotiates nearly two billion additional doses of the vaccine for the coming years.</p>.<p>"Pfizer was 12 euros ($14), then it became 15 euros. Contracts are now being signed... at a price of 19.50 euros," Borissov said on Sunday.</p>.<p>The prices are in sharp contrast to the vaccine produced by British-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca, which vowed not to make a profit on its product during the pandemic and sold it to the EU for less than two euros a unit.</p>.<p>Bourla did not confirm the price of the Pfizer vaccine but admitted that it was sold at a higher price to developed countries like those in the EU or the United States.</p>.<p>"In middle-income countries, we sell it for half the price," he said.</p>.<p>"In poorer countries, including in Africa, we sell it at cost."</p>.<p>However, many observers doubted the Pfizer vaccine was being widely distributed in African countries because the product has to be stored in ultra-cold freezers of about minus 70 degrees Celsius (minus 94 Fahrenheit) or below.</p>.<p>Bourla said the company was working on a new formula that would allow the vaccine to be stored for four to six months at a normal temperature.</p>