[The Soup Nazi]

From Demand Progress:

At long last, coronavirus vaccines are on the verge of being distributed to the public. But you might get charged an arm and a leg for it. Donald Trump has been setting up Big Pharma to gouge the public for a coronavirus vaccine. One company is planning to charge three times as much money for it as they would for other vaccines. (1)

Even as Trump leaves office, it's crucial that Congress step up to make a vaccine free for everyone. Otherwise it won't get to everyone and this pandemic may drag on even longer.

You may have heard reports that the coronavirus vaccine should already be free. (2) But that probably will not apply to any of the 30 million Americans who are uninsured, who will have to pay money they may not have in order to get the vaccine.

From a justice and equity perspective, it's wrong to make anyone pay to get a coronavirus vaccine. Doing so will also reduce the effectiveness of a vaccine by ensuring fewer people receive it.

As with so many broken aspects of American life, the pandemic has laid bare inequalities felt by communities of color. African Americans have died from COVID-19 at twice the rate of any other racial group. (3) Two-thirds of Latino households have lost jobs or wages due to the pandemic recession. The Navajo Nation has the highest per capita infection rate in the nation. (4)

Communities of color—hardest hit by the virus and accompanying recession—cannot be shut out of the solution. Nor can anyone who is uninsured or unable to afford a copay. The pandemic affects us all. It will only end when we're all protected.

Sign the petition: A COVID-19 vaccine must be available to everyone, regardless of ability to pay.

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Thank you for taking action,

Robert Cruickshank and the team at Demand Progress

Sources:
1. CBS News, "Moderna charging far more for its experimental coronavirus vaccine than rival treatments," August 6, 2020.
2. Healthline, "How Much Will You Pay for a COVID-19 Vaccine? Here’s What We Know," August 11, 2020.
3. Inequality.org, "Racial Economic Inequality," July, 2020.
4. Salt Lake Tribune, "Navajo Nation hit hardest by coronavirus," June 1, 2020.