January 1, ‘Amazing Coincidence’: Senator Blasts Moderna’s Suspicious Timing

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY…
1972: Richard Nixon becomes the first U.S. President to visit China, normalizing relations between the countries in a meeting with Chinese leader Mao Zedong in Beijing.

Pharmaceutical company Moderna announced a plan to provide free COVID-19 vaccines to uninsured Americans the same day a Senate committee asked them to testify — a move that Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) suggested “maybe was just a wild and crazy coincidence.”

Last week, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee asked Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel to appear before a panel next month, looking into proposed plans to increase the COVID-19 vaccine’s price from $110 to $130 per dose.

On Wednesday, Moderna announced that it will grant Americans access to vaccines “regardless of ability to pay.”

Sanders, the chair of the committee, addressed the move on CBS’s Face the Nation.

“Amazing coincidence, that happened the same exact day we announced that we were inviting them to testify,” Sanders said.

The senator said the committee also wants to examine Moderna’s proposal to provide uninsured people in America with access to vaccines.

“We also want to take a look at what that patient program is about,” Sanders said. “We’re talking to them about that, but, obviously, it’s a step in the right direction.”

The senator noted that the COVID-19 vaccine’s development was funded by taxpayer dollars.

Moderna, along with the vaccine maker Pfizer, are preparing to transition to a commercial market as federal COVID-19 emergency declarations expire.

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Source: Politico