U.S. market makes up more than 40% of COVID-19 vaccine sales
05 August 2021
Data: Company filings; Chart: Sara Wise/Axios
The four main drug companies making COVID-19 vaccines have sold a combined $18.6 billion worth of the shots in the first half of 2021, and sales are expected to reach a combined $60 billion by the end of the year.
The big picture: Even though the U.S. represents less than 5% of the global population, the U.S. market makes up 41% of the vaccine sales.
Between the lines: Vaccine makers have sent more vaccines and charged higher prices to wealthy countries, including the U.S. The higher prices are part of the reason Pfizer and Moderna have advocated for booster shots even though their vaccines remain very effective after six months and against the Delta variant.
- The World Health Organization has called for a moratorium on boosters so more unvaccinated people in low-income countries can get their first shots.
By the numbers: Pfizer and Moderna have collected more than 90% of global COVID-19 vaccine revenues.
- Pfizer alone accounts for 60% of worldwide sales. Moderna's two-dose vaccine, which was 100% funded by the federal government, has more than half of its sales in the U.S.
- Johnson & Johnson's one-shot vaccine hasn't sold nearly as much due to safety concerns, but the company still expects $2.5 billion of global sales this year based on its advanced purchasing agreements.
- The FDA still hasn't authorized AstraZeneca's shot for use in the U.S. The company hopes it will before the end of the year. AstraZeneca has been selling its shot at a not-for-profit price.
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.