Vax_CAR_Measles_MagaliDeppen_2015_MSF152051

A Fair Shot

Thank you for helping us raise the pressure and  #AskPharma to lower the price of the pneumonia vaccine! Over 416,272 peoplefrom 170 countries signed our petition, which was handed to Pfizer and GSK in New York, London, and Madrid.

On April 27, 2016, we carried your voices to Pfizer Headquarters, and they accepted our petition. Thanks to your actions agreements are now in place with Pfizer and GSK for humanitarian organizations like MSF to obtain lowest global price for PCV, around US$9 per child (for all three doses).

This campaign is not over, we are still asking Pfizer and GSK to lower the prices of the vaccine to $5 per child for all developing countries.

Photograph by Magali Deppen

What is this campaign about? 

Pneumonia is the leading cause of child mortality worldwide, killing nearly one million children every year. There is a vaccine which could prevent many of these deaths but one third of the world’s countries have not been able to introduce it because Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) – the only two manufacturers – have kept the price artificially high. Millions of children living in countries such as Jordan, Thailand, and the Philippines are left out. 

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has been campaigning for lower vaccine prices since 2014. In 2016 after years of efforts and public campaigning Pfizer and GSK finally announced that they were reducing the price of the vaccine to slightly more than 9 US dollars per child for humanitarian organisations like MSF. While this is definitely a step in the right direction, it means that millions of children are still left unvaccinated in countries where their parents or governments can’t afford the vaccine. 

That’s why we’re continuing to demand Pfizer and GSK lower the price of the vaccine to $5/child for all developing countries.

HERE'S WHY YOU SHOULD CARE

""

Help MSF #ASKPHARMA to lower the price of the pneumonia vaccine

 

A Fair Shot Campaign in pictures

In New York, on Word Pneumonia Day 2015 (Nov 12), MSF volunteers attempted to deliver more than $17 million of fake cash - the equivalent of one day of profits from the pneumonia vaccines for Pfizer globally - to Pfizer's CEO Ian Read. The same day, MSF launched a global petition to ask Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) to reduce the price of the pneumococcal vaccine to $5 dollars per child (for all three doses) in developing countries.

A member of MSF staff is stacking up a pile of fake cash outside Pfizer's HQ in Manhattan, New York City, on World Pneumonia Day 2015 during a protest demanding that Pfizer drops the price of their lifesaving pneumonia vaccine to $5 per child.

MSF put up an ad at a bus stop outside of Pfizer's HQ in New York City asking the corporation about their pricing policy which leaves millions of children around the world unprotected against deadly pneumonia.

April 2016: In this picture MSF volunteers and supporters drop 2500 flowers into an empty crib in front of Pfizer global Headquarter.

On April 27th 2016, dozens of MSF volunteers delivered to Pfizer global headquarter in New York, the names of nearly 400 000 people asking Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) to reduce the price of the pneumonia vaccine to 5 dollars per child in developing countries. In this picture MSF volunteers and supporters drop 2500 flowers into an empty crib in front of Pfizer's offices.

The silent march started from Grand Central Station and ended at Pfizer HQ. There the volunteers dropped 2500 flowers (the equivalent of the number of children dying of pneumonia every day) in an empty crib containing the names of people who has signed the petition.

World Pneumonia Day 2016: MSF volunteers dropped 2500 flowers (the equivalent of the number of children dying of pneumonia every day) in an empty crib outside of Pfizer's global HQ, containing the names of people who has signed the petition. Pfizer employees accepted the crib.

January 2015: MSF stunt in Berlin outside the venue of the Gavi replenishment meeting, demanding GSK and Pfizer to reduce their price for the pneumococcal vaccine to $5 per child.

January 2015: 'Whichever way you spin it, phrama always wins'. MSF stunt in Berlin involved world leaders spinning a wheel of fortune in which - when it comes to the pneumococcal vaccine - pharma almost always wins.

MSF stunt in Berlin outside the venue of the Gavi replenishment meeting, demanding GSK and Pfizer to reduce their price for the pneumococcal vaccine to $5 per child.  The stunt involves world leaders spinning a wheel of chance in which - when it comes to the PCV vaccine - pharma almost always wins. Photograph by Stephanie Pilick Photograph by Stephanie Pilick

January 2015: Outside the venue of the Gavi replenishment meeting, MSF staff and supporters gathere to demand GSK and Pfizer reduce their price for the pneumococcal vaccine to $5 per child.
 

Our vaccinations campaigns

In November 2014, Doctors Without Borders launched a pneumonia vaccination campaign in Ethiopia, in the 3 refugee camps of Leitchuor, Kule and Tierkidi, where 50,000 children were targeted to be vaccinated.

In June 2016, MSF has been conducting vaccination campaigns in several refugee camps and settlements in Greece.

In August 2013, Doctors Without Borders launched an emergency pneumonia vaccination campaign in the Yida refugee camp in South Sudan. This was the first time that the pneumonia vaccine was used in South Sudan.

Campaign | 2022

If mRNA technology were shared, manufacturers in LMICs could produce vaccines for pandemic preparedness and diseases of concern.