Moderna Floats COVID Vaccine Pricing

The Hill: Moderna To Charge $32 To $37 A Dose For Its COVID Vaccine 
Moderna will charge between $32 and $37 a dose for its experimental coronavirus vaccine for some "low volume" customers, the company's CEO said Wednesday. The company will be using a tiered pricing system, and will charge less for higher volume orders. The company considers a small order to be "in the millions" of doses, CEO Stéphane Bancel said on a conference call to discuss the company's quarterly earnings. (Weixel, 8/5)

The Hill: US Reaches $1B Deal For Doses Of Potential Johnson & Johnson Vaccine 
The Trump administration on Wednesday announced a deal worth approximately $1 billion for the manufacturing of 100 million doses of a potential coronavirus vaccine from Johnson & Johnson that the federal government would then own. The move is the latest in a series of agreements the Trump administration has made with several companies making potential coronavirus vaccines. The goal, through the Operation Warp Speed program, is to make bets on a wide array of vaccine candidates with the hope that at least one and maybe more will end up proving safe and effective through clinical trials. (Sullivan, 8/5)

CNN: These 3 Covid-19 Vaccines Have Been In The News. Here's What You Need To Know About Them 
The US government is pouring billions into Covid-19 vaccines, and candidates from three companies are moving along quickly: Moderna, Pfizer and Novavax. Here's what you need to know about them. (Waldrop, 8/6)

Detroit Free Press: First Michigan Patients Get COVID-19 Vaccine Through Henry Ford Study
Ashley Wilson rolled up her left sleeve early Wednesday morning and made history. The 24-year-old research assistant from Taylor became among the first people in Michigan to potentially get a COVID-19 vaccine. That's potentially because there's a chance Wilson got a placebo instead of the Moderna mRNA-1273 vaccine when the needle went into her upper arm. (Shamus, 8/6)

Kaiser Health News: America’s Obesity Epidemic Threatens Effectiveness Of Any COVID Vaccine 
For a world crippled by the coronavirus, salvation hinges on a vaccine. But in the United States, where at least 4.6 million people have been infected and nearly 155,000 have died, the promise of that vaccine is hampered by a vexing epidemic that long preceded COVID-19: obesity. Scientists know that vaccines engineered to protect the public from influenza, hepatitis B, tetanus and rabies can be less effective in obese adults than in the general population, leaving them more vulnerable to infection and illness. There is little reason to believe, obesity researchers say, that COVID-19 vaccines will be any different. (Varney, 8/6)

In related vaccine news, people express concerns about conflicts of interest —

Reuters: Exclusive: Fauci Says Regulators Promise Politics Will Not Guide Vaccine Timing
U.S. regulators have assured scientists that political pressure will not determine when a coronavirus vaccine is approved even as the White House hopes to have one ready ahead of the November presidential election, the country’s leading infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci said on Wednesday. “We have assurances, and I’ve discussed this with the regulatory authorities, that they promise that they are not going to let political considerations interfere with a regulatory decision,” Dr. Fauci told Reuters in an interview. (Mason and Erman, 8/5)

ABC News: Health Care Execs Have Made Millions During COVID, More Scrutiny Needed: Critics 
Lawmakers and legal experts are calling on the Security and Exchange Commission to investigate the trading activity of a number of health care executives, some of whom have already made millions of dollars in stock trades during the period that their companies were working as part of a mad dash for coronavirus cures and treatments. "I think the SEC needs to be on full alert at this moment," said Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat, in an interview with ABC News. "It's important as we move quickly to develop a vaccine we make sure the public's interests are protected. That's their job. They're supposed to be the watchdog for the public interest here." (Bruggeman, Rubin and Mosk, 8/5)

NBC News: Coronavirus Vaccines Speed Ahead — But Scientists Stress Safety First
With the world waiting for a coronavirus vaccine, scientists know the stakes couldn't be higher. Three vaccines are in phase 3 of human clinical trials, which ensure effectiveness but also safety — a crucial element as an accelerated timeline, mounting numbers of cases and deaths and no shortage of misinformation have added enormous pressure to the process. (Chow, 8/5)