A Fair Shot

Every year, almost one million children die of pneumonia. There's a vaccine, but it is too expensive for many developing countries. After years of fruitless negotiations with Pfizer and GSK for an affordable price, Doctors Without Borders is asking for your help. Join our call and #AskPharma to drop the price to $5 per child (for all three doses) in all developing countries. Let's give every country A Fair Shot at protecting the lives of their children.

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Check out Ava from California participating in our Pneumonia (mis)Spelling Bee!

We're taking action to ask Pfizer and GSK to lower the price of the pneumonia vaccine to $5 a child. Parents, it's time for your first homework assignment. Here's how you can help spread the word:

Upload the video of your child spelling (or adorable misspelling, as the little ones in our videos show) and share on your Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram accounts. Make sure to hashtag #AskPharma!

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This autumn, we're taking action to ask Pfizer and GSK to lower the price of the pneumonia vaccine to $5 a child. Parents, it's time for your first homework assignment. Here's how you can help spread the word:

Upload the video of your child spelling (or adorable misspelling, as the little ones in our videos show) and share on your Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram accounts. Make sure to hashtag #AskPharma!

Feel free to use our message along with the video and hashtag to spread the word: 

Spelling pneumonia is hard. Paying for the vaccine is harder. #AskPharma to lower the price! afairshot.org

Be sure to check back on our social channels as we share the videos! Facebook Twitter Instagram

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6 Things Pharma Says vs. The Truth

Debunking the claims Pfizer and GSK have made when asked to lower the pneumonia vaccine price

Pharma Talk #1:

What they mean is that the lowest price for a single dose of the pneumonia vaccine is $3.30 (available for Gavi countries). It takes at least 3 doses to fully vaccinate a child against pneumonia, so even at the lowest price, it costs nearly $10 per child.

Pharma Talk #2:

So even though the official price for Gavi-eligible countries is $10 per child, they actually get up to $21 per child thanks to a $1.5 billion subsidy from donor countries.

Pharma Talk #3:

This is actually for a new vaccine vial which dispenses 4 doses, rather than 1 dose per vial, making the manufacturing costs cheaper anyway.

Pharma Talk #4:

The majority of the world's poor people increasingly  live in ‘middle-income’ countries which can’t afford the pneumonia vaccine.

Pharma Talk #5:

Instead of getting the discounted prices offered to Gavi, which we have tried to negotiate for more than five years, the companies have offered unsustainable donations. MSF and all humanitarian organisations should be able to purchase vaccines at the lowest global price. We don’t want charity, we want solutions!

Pharma Talk #6:

Actually, the World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended that vaccine prices be public and transparent. Countries at the World Health Assembly this year passed a resolution on access to vaccines, which called on all governments to "provide, where possible and available, timely vaccine price data to WHO for publication, with the goal of increasing affordability through improved price transparency, particularly for the new vaccines.” Countries believe that transparency around vaccine prices help them negotiate lower deals.

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Imagine, instead of doing things the way they’ve always been done, we demand the change we desperately need? This interactive story tells the tale of how we can give all kids A Fair Shot at life. http://bit.ly/1J9rfeQ

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How much is too much? Pfizer and GSK have made a combined total of $25 billion from the pneumonia vaccine alone.

Many countries can't afford the pneumonia vaccine, and we can't afford to let Pfizer and GSK continue pricing the vaccine out of reach. With almost one million children dying of pneumonia each year, we need lower prices NOW.

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Last week at the World Health Assembly, governments adopted a landmark resolution calling for more affordable ‪#‎vaccines‬ and price transparency. The resolution was adopted by all member states, with more than 60 countries explicitly stating their support.

Read more here: http://msfaccess.org/about-us/media-room/press-releases/governments-take-decisive-step-over-vaccine-prices

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Aside from the lowest global price, @Pfizer and @GSK largely keep the prices they charge for the pneumonia vaccine secret, making it difficult for governments to know how much they should be paying for the pneumonia vaccine.  Without public pricing information, trying to make smart purchasing decisions for vaccines – finding the best price – is like shopping in the dark. 

Why don’t we know more pneumonia vaccine prices? Help us #AskPharma

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We asked Pfizer’s CEO Ian Read to tell us the prices the company charges countries for the pneumonia vaccine, at their shareholder meeting last month. He answered that confidentiality and tiered pricing is the company’s way to ensure wide access to vaccines. Clearly, this isn’t working, since 20 countries expressed concerns over high vaccine prices at last year’s World Health Assembly (WHA).

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#BTS when we asked GSK to disclose the price of the pneumonia vaccine at their annual shareholder meeting yesterday in London. Increasing information on vaccine prices is essential in allowing countries to compare prices and ultimately negotiate better deals to vaccinate their children.

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We took our questions straight to GSK’s shareholder meeting last week in London. Thank you riends of Médecins Sans Frontières | UK & Ireland for rallying behind our call!

Sign up for our mailing list to know when our next live event is.

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We went from Berlin to New York to London, asking Pfizer and GSK to give all kids a fair shot. We want the pneumonia vaccine for $5 per child, and we want it NOW.

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The next stop in our quest to help children get a fair shot at affordable vaccines was in London. On May 7, 2015 we went to  the GSK annual shareholder meeting, asking the company to disclose the prices they charge all countries for the pneumonia vaccine.

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We went straight to Pfizer headquarters on April 23, 2015 to #AskPharma to lower the price of the pneumonia vaccine to $5 per child.

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You can’t #AskPharma quietly. Sometimes you have to make some noise to get a fairer price for vaccines.

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Vaccine prices are negotiated in the dark. We think that’s unfair.

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We want Pfizer & GSK to share the price of their pneumonia vaccines.

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