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This fact brief was originally published as an experiment to test the concepts behind fact briefs.

Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of useful information in fact briefs like this one, not all of them reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.

FACT BRIEF

Do Pfizer, BioNTech and Moderna make large profits from their COVID-19 vaccines?

Monday, January 24, 2022

By Lisa Freedland

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YES

Pfizer, BioNTech and Moderna made large profits from their COVID-19 vaccine sales in 2021: approximately $9 billion, $14.7 billion and $10.5 billion in pretax profits, respectively. The estimates were provided by People's Vaccine Alliance, an advocacy group working to broaden access to the vaccines. The group based the full-year numbers on published results for the first three quarters of the year and other statements by the companies.

The alliance attributes the vaccine manufacturers' high profit margins to the overpricing of vaccines. Its analysis estimated that Pfizer, BioNTech and Moderna are charging governments "as much as $41 billion" more for vaccines than their estimated production costs.

These companies have also received criticism for under-distributing COVID-19 vaccines to low-income countries. Each sends less than 1% of its vaccines to underdeveloped regions, despite having received $8 billion in public funding for vaccine development.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

Oxfam Pfizer, BioNTech and Moderna making $1,000 profit every second while world’s poorest countries remain largely unvaccinated

Oxfam People's Vaccine Alliance report on vaccine makers in rich countries

Oxfam The Great Vaccine Robbery

Pfizer Q3 2021 earnings - news release

BioNTech Q3 2021 earnings - news release

Moderna Q3 2021 earnings - news release

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Gigafact

Between 2020 and 2022, under close editorial supervision, Gigafact contracted a group of freelance writers and editors to test the concepts for fact briefs and provide inputs to our software development process. We call this effort Gigafact Foundry. Over the course of these two years, Gigafact Foundry writers published over 1500 fact briefs in response to claims they found online. Their important work forms the basis of Gigafact formats and editorial guidelines, and is available to the public on Gigafact.org. Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of relevant information to be found, not all fact briefs produced by Gigafact Foundry reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date and need to be looked at with fresh eyes, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.

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About fact briefs published on Gigafact

Fact briefs are short, credibly sourced summaries that offer “yes/no” answers in response to claims found online. They rely on publicly available, often primary source data and documents. Fact briefs are created by contributors to Gigafact —a nonprofit project looking to expand participation in fact-checking and protect the democratic process. See all fact briefs here.