maybe a vaccine will be out soon.. how much out of pocket would you spend for a covid vaccine?
How Much Would You Fork out for a COVID Vaccine?
LCrossdude44 on 10/11/2020 - 16:11
Poll Options
- 16$1000+
- 17$300-$500
- 19$100-150
- 24$150-300
- 26$20-$50
- 62$50-100
- 508Less than $20
Comments
People are stupid. Anything you can pay a business $10 to do, the gov can spend $20 and do twice as slow. Anything sciency/techy related, probably double that again.
Every dollar the gov wastes in 1 place, it doesn't get spent in another. Ppl call the after hours bulk billed doctors cuz they're lazy. It costs them nada. The gov pays those docs $250+ per person. A normal BB doc costs what $70? So it's 4 other visits you've deprived someone of.
But people are selfish, they think this is their money’s worth.Unfortunately that adage just doesn’t quite fly for medical research. Almost all good medical research is government funded, and you DO get better bang-for-buck from government grant funding. Corporate research is usually biased, unreproducible, and always shunned by the scientific community, who flick right to the financial declarations after reading a paper.
And pharmaceutical corporation research itself tends to be government funded at some stage of development. Pharma only take over once they’re onto a winner already. They don’t fund breakthroughs. Where there is poor government funding, countries just don’t output.
It’s not a case of “free market does it better” and “government can’t do it wisely” …in the medical world, that’s fallacy. It is more a case of “government or …nothing.”
And it’s not just “the Germans” there’s like 30 concurrent clinical trials.
@haemolysis: Interesting and sound reply based on what I've seen from a quick Google search, but conflating the German funded vaccine to Australian tax dollars doesn't fly either and it doesn't change my belief that people who say they'll pay $0 for the vaccine are acting extremely entitled and selfish, especially when the flu vaccine costs money as mentioned below.
But hey maybe it's because I can afford at least $20 for a potentially disease-preventing injection.
For people who think it won't be free, but chose Less than $20, you realise the flu vax costs 35ish+
Flu is $15 at Chemist warehouse, free for some categories of people. Government pays most.
Covid will be free in Australia for sure. Though premium GP's may charge their extra consultation fee.
I fall into immuno compromised category, if its not free, I would be surprised.
0, you stuff up lives, i expect you to give it to me for free.
$0
Yeah nah I'll gladly wait a bit. Possibly for the second or third gen of the stuff.
Are you talking to get the vaccine before everyone else and the supply is still short or when supply is readily accessible for everyone?
The price of the vaccine should be free market price for the general population AFTER the government secures a million doses for the immunocompromised and elderly (qualify through your GP).
Once general supply is secured the government should be subsidising it to the tune of $100 or less with further subsidies like sending out vouchers for vaccination of children who qualify for the CDBS (that may the database can just be dublicated from an existing system) and those on a concession card and qualify for zero out of pocket when filling out the script to acquire the vaccine.
This is of course assuming the government is balancing a cost to benefit approach, but if the government wants to take a destroy covid costs be damned we shouldn't even be talking out of pocket expense but rather how many dedicated vaccination clinics are we going to set up and just churn people through like covid testing.
Free market? Are you kidding? It’s a pandemic, it’s going to be free, this why Medicare exists, also expect that it will be mandatory to take the vaccine to go to large public gatherings, Ticketmaster have already signalled that
They're asking how much you would pay, how much you would pay is a free market concept.
It's a pandemic, doesn't mean it's going to be free. Can't remember which government it was but at least one of them had initial covid with out of pocket expenses (the government wanted to limit tests to those that absolutely needed them because they were concerned about running out of testing agents, by implementing a free market strategy).
I have no doubt it's going to end up being free or heavily subsidised that it's reasonable sub $50 (flu vaccine and HPV vaccine come to mind). But you're kidding yourself if you think that the vaccine won't come with a co-pay or artificial limitation when supply is low.
Australia is basically guaranteed to be free (100% Medicare/PBS) and not for sale commercially for a long time.
Any "priority access" is going to require international imports, which will probably get intercepted.
Government will want to control the first round priority and when supply is no problem they will sub it out to Chemist Warehouse and others. They already handly a bit over half the population for flu shots, so this isn't going to require some unprecedented logistical exercise.
@joelmuzz: Whether the vaccine is available for private scripts or not is up to the distribution system (as in the wholesalers/distributors and pharmacies), and whether the dispensing pharmacy has stock to do so or not. The PBS is just a list of drugs which the government will subsidise, the sale of the drug itself is still a commercial transaction just differing in terms of where the payment is coming from and price ceilings negotiated when the drug is listed (that being said you can get the same drug under different brands with different amounts of co-pay/brand premiums because the subsidy is only up to the price of the lowest priced brand listed).
Currently the maximum co-pay for a drug listed on the PBS for a general patient is $41 (once safety net is reached it's $6.60) and for concession patients it's $6.60 (once safety net is reached it's $0). So if the maxium quantity per script is one dose then the co-pay for the course of vaccination would be $82 for general patients and $13.20 for concession holders, but if both doses are covered under the maxium quantity per script then it'll be one co-pay. There's also the possibility of therapeutic group premium, or special patient contribution that may be applicable.
When the Australian Government announced that it has secured 100 million doses, it means as part of listing the vaccine on the PBS the Dispense Price for Maximum Quantity was negotiated, the actual cost of the medication under the PBS would essentially be $(subsidy+co-pay). Pfizer would guarantee a minimum 100 million doses supplied to Australia, and the Government would most likely restrict the prescription of the vaccine under the PBS with certain criteria (age, occupation, infection risk status, etc). How much the subsidy would be determined by how much the Government is willing to pay for the perceived benefit.
As for interception, if the drug doesn't breach any import laws/restrictions and meets the eligibility as a drug in Australia, the government won't have any grounds to intercept and confiscate. Basically if it's not a Schedule 8, 9 or 10 drug you can import it, with how much difficulty is a different question.
Now what about a private script, where there are no restrictions based on prescribing under the PBS. If a health practitioner deems the drug to be clinically suitable or has justification for prescribing the drug for off-script use but the reason does not meet the criteria for PBS subsidy, they can write a private script. Now the next question would be how expensive is the drug on a private script (determined privately by the manufacturer, distributor and retailer just like any other good and whether there is enough supply for it, Pfizer could choose to import additional doses above the 100 million they guaranteed the Australian Government under PBS and sell those under private distribution. How they would make availability known to prescribers or the general public I'm not sure, I don't know about drug advertising laws in Australia.
There's going to be a need for an unprecedented logistical exercise, the conditions in which the vaccine must be stored is significantly harder than just refrigeration and outside of our distribution capabilities at the moment.
Meh. I had COVID already, was sick for a few days.
Initially (now), I wouldn't pay a thing. After 10 years of usage and data, I'd pay a lot more - provided it's safe and effective (not just by FDA or TGA standards).
What age group are you in if you don't mind me asking?
Was it flu like symptoms or difficulties breathing?34YO, no underlying conditions, not overweight, etc.
It was flu like symptoms, with a twist. Started on the sunday night (muscle fatigue in legs/back) and just tired in general.
Monday morning I went for a test - came back positive on Tuesday.Between Monday morning and Wednesday evening (Days 2-4) I had chills, fever, headache and muscle fatigue. Once that was over (Day 5 onward) I developed a minor cough and runny nose.
Now the twist. On day 7-8, I felt a pain in my lungs as I breathed in really deep. It was a stretch to even call it discomfort as I never really needed to breathe that deeply, but it would be an issue for those with lesser lung capacity.
My wife (34 YO, 32 weeks pregnant) and son (2.5years old) both contracted it, too. My wife's symptoms were very much like mine, except being pregnant the lung impact was more of a concern. Luckily, she also has no underlying conditions and recovered without issues.
And my son - he had roughly 1/2 an hour of a very mild fever. That was it. Had I not known that I had it, we would never have known he contracted it.I should also mention - none of us have any noticeable long-term impacts.
Overall not the worst experience, but the lung impacts do explain why some people go on ventilators/go to hospital. With that said, the worst part of it all, by far, was dealing with DHHS. Completely incompetent, with numerous rounds of conflicting advice.
An example: I was confirmed positive, my wife waiting for a result. We called the COVID hotline (federal and state) and neither could tell us how to get my 2.5YO son tested (admittedly, it's the state's responsibility, not federal).
- We were advised not to go to the drive in, as we'd be breathing in the car with him inside for a long time, ultimately spreading it to him regardless of test result.
- We couldn't get an at-home test, as this isn't done for under 5s.
- We couldn't have a relative drive him to get a test, as they might get it from him
- We were told not to visit a walk-in clinic, as we'd risk spreading it to othersBut we were told he must be tested - they just couldn't tell us how. In the end we were advised to call each testing center and ask their advice… So we called around, and the kind people at Box Hill were willing to test him - so my wife took him there (with car windows open).
With that said, the medical staff at Box Hill did not hesitate to voice their thoughts on DHHS. Especially because DHHS are supposed to provide guidelines/procedures for testing.
I can give many more examples of bad advice, one almost causing an additional 14 days isolation (after not leaving the house for 3 weeks+). Anyone who claims DHHS are capable of dealing with COVID-19 has rocks in their head.
Please do a AMA.
How Much Would You Fork out for a COVID Vaccine?
It will be free !!!
This question is missing important context. If I was forced to stay in Australia even after I had taken it, I will wait for the government subsidised version which I will be far down the priority list to get. If it meant I could immediately go about my life including visiting family overseas, I would probably spend in the thousands to get it immediately.
Work would likely pay for it. Particularly if it was a similar cost to the flu jab
I would rather catch the damn virus than put something the dodgy lnp want to inject the population with.. How good is the efficacy and how long is the trials tested for.?
Unless the rich and the politicians take it in front of us it's a hard pass from me.
Yes because the LNP had total control over Pfizer and BioNTech whose primary accreditation will be via the FDA and supplied to the USA, EU, Israel and Australia among many others….
Have fun with your possible prolonged health affects which may include but are not limited to:
- High BP
- Heart muscle damage/failure
- Stroke, heart attack, embolisms
- Mental health issues
- Persistent fatigue
- Loss of smell
- Cognitive impairments
- Permanent lung damageOn a tangential note, did you get the HPV vaccine or anyone in your family get it? Cause that was also a revolutionary vaccine that came to market when the LNP were in government.
Lol nice list of prolonged health effects. Just like side effects with all my pain and mental medications. Some get them others don't.
I bet this HPV vaccine was tested and studied for years before it was released. Is this the same thing?
I would be more worried about the long term effects of this vaccine. I am pro vaccine usually, providing they have been studied for long term use. All these coronavirus vaccine makers have indemnity clauses.
In last week’s federal budget the Australian government announced it had given the suppliers of two COVID-19 vaccines indemnity against liability for rare side-effects
This seems to be the same around the world. With a 0.6 death rate as bad as it is mass vaccination of the world seems alittle crazy. Now if this was spanish flu or something I might feel differently.
The Australian government already budgeted $1.7b for 80m doses of the vaccine for it's 25.5m population.
Each vaccine will effectively cost $21.25, but each of the 25.5m Australian effective chipped in $66.67 each.
We already prepaid for this, so we should not need to pay anymore. It will definitely cost more to administer the vaccine, so it's not cheap and it's all going to be paid by taxpayers either directly or indirectly by paying interest on the loan the government borrowed on behalf of all Australian.
This also assume the vaccine works. Personally I won't be getting the vaccine until all the big pharma executive, medical people working on the vaccine and politician vaccinate their grandchildren!
That's actually a bargain considering the storage and transport requirements for this first vaccine. The cold chain requirements are -80c - which means that dry ice might be good enough to keep it cool, otherwise it will require liquid nitrogen and pretty impressive coolers to transport.
Yeesh, where did you hear that! Not that I doubt you - just surprised.
-80°C a vaccine is unprecedented. They’re normally just fridge temp. God knows how they’ll get these to poor, remote communities.
I also doubt there’s actually any scientific backing for -80°C. Sometimes scientists just “assume” the colder the better because that’s what the lab freezer available to them is, but I’d be curious if there’s actually been a good stability study.
I heard it from a friend of mine who is a medical doctor.
A quick google says that it's actually -70c, but near enough: https://time.com/5911543/pfizer-vaccine-cold-storage/
Edit: I had only read the first little bit of that before I posted it. Further down it mentions that they can last for about 5 days in regular refrigeration, so I wouldn't expect your local GP to be stocking this any time soon, but if they do scheduled vaccination drives then urban centres should have no problem getting them.
I pay shit load of taxes so I won't pay jack shit or else I going in Vic market vaccine free and sneezing
I'm going to hazard a guess and say 'shitload' is a not so slight exaggeration.
Pete Evans reckons eating activated almonds is all you need…
hmmm
stupid question, it's going to be free
Couldn't pay me enough to take it
$0. The govt should fund it.
And the Germans paid for it. Do you think it'll cost CSL as much to manufacture it?
"Getting our money's worth" when it comes to taxes will never happen. Just look at shoddy led projects like the NBN. People should never expect tax payers money to be spent wisely. The sooner people realise that once you pay taxes it can be used in the most inefficient backwards way, the better.