The Journal spoke with Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco Monday, who said of the 400 percent price hike: "I would think this type of pricing is consistent with the value.”Until now, the mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech have been purchased by the government and offered to Americans for free.But now that the federal government is backing away from distributing the vaccines, their makers are moving to the commercial market—with price adjustments.Analysts then anticipated that Pfizer's price would push Moderna and other vaccine makers to follow suit, which appears to be happening now."We urge you to back off from your proposed price increases and ensure COVID-19 vaccines are reasonably priced and accessible to people across the United States," they wrote.Moderna also noted in the release that it expects to make a minimum of $5 billion in COVID-19 vaccine sales in 2023.reader comments 158 with 0 posters participatingShare this story"