World Health Assembly passes resolution on vaccine pricing, transparency

The World Health Assembly passed a resolution Monday calling for improved vaccine pricing transparency and for more affordable vaccines, with more than 60 countries expressing support. Médecins Sans Frontières--which has had a standoff with Pfizer ($PFE) and GlaxoSmithKline ($GSK) over vaccine prices--praised the resolution, with Dr. Manica Balasegaram, executive director for the charity's Access Campaign saying that "if governments do not take concrete action to address vaccine prices, they will be increasingly forced to make difficult choices about which diseases they can and can't afford to protect their children against." MSF has been urging Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline for months to lower their pneumococcal disease vaccine prices to $5 per child but has so far received "inadequate" concessions. Release | More