[US] Moderna CEO paid 12,000 times more than minimum wage workers

The CEO of US pharma giant Moderna has drawn criticism for making more than 12,000 times what a minimum wage worker made in 2022, Punjab News Express reports.

Last year CEO Stephane Bancel made about $393 million by exercising stock options. And securities filings from March reveal that he earned a $1.5 million salary. The figure is a 50 per cent jump from 2021.

In a statement, Mohga Kamal-Yanni - from the People's Vaccine Alliance - said, "Moderna handed over $4 billion to shareholders during the Covid-19 pandemic, after extracting more than $10 billion from US taxpayers. Last year, Moderna's CEO pocketed nearly $400 million, equivalent to almost $189, 000 an hour, more than 12,000 times what a minimum wage worker makes in the company's home state."

The company, however, defended the dramatic hikes for Mr Bancel and others as "reflective of merit", according to reporting from The Washington Post.

Moderna is known for its lifesaving coronavirus vaccine. The company reportedly stated that shareholders have done well and overwhelmingly approved its compensation plan last year.

The pay is "appropriate in light of the increased scope of increasingly global responsibility for Moderna's executives", Moderna said.

Mr Bancel (50) said he is donating the proceeds of stock sales to charity. The report said he owns stock worth at least $2.8 billion and, as of the end of last year, had additional stock-based compensation valued at $1.7 billion.

Mr Bancel also reportedly plans to increase the price of Moderna’s COVID shots massively; taking the charge up fivefold to $130 as the US government brings the public health emergency to an end on May 11. The change would reportedly leave Americans fending for themselves for COVID tests, treatments and vaccines that were provided free during the pandemic.

Moderna expects demand for the vaccine to fall by 90 per cent, with the company out of pocket for any wasted doses, Mr Bancel said at a Senate hearing. During the pandemic, the federal government picked up those costs.

The company has reportedly been charging the US government around $26 per dose.

"To protect people, we need to make more than we think is going to be needed. We are going to have to pay for it, " Mr Bancel said.

"Moderna plans to raise prices five-fold in the US. Meanwhile, the company has refused to share technology with a WHO-backed programme to build mRNA vaccine production in developing countries, instead filing far-reaching patents in South Africa where the programme is based, " Ms Kamal-Yanni said.

"How much will ever be enough? As Harry Truman said of Second World War Profiteers, Their greed knows no limit'. Pharmaceutical companies like Moderna are the War Profiteers of our time, and governments must curb their power with national and international actions to force the sharing of technology, remove intellectual property barriers, and cut prices, " she added.

Source: Punjab News Express

(Quotes via original reporting)

The CEO of US pharma giant Moderna has drawn criticism for making more than 12,000 times what a minimum wage worker made in 2022, Punjab News Express reports.

Last year CEO Stephane Bancel made about $393 million by exercising stock options. And securities filings from March reveal that he earned a $1.5 million salary. The figure is a 50 per cent jump from 2021.

In a statement, Mohga Kamal-Yanni - from the People's Vaccine Alliance - said, "Moderna handed over $4 billion to shareholders during the Covid-19 pandemic, after extracting more than $10 billion from US taxpayers. Last year, Moderna's CEO pocketed nearly $400 million, equivalent to almost $189, 000 an hour, more than 12,000 times what a minimum wage worker makes in the company's home state."

The company, however, defended the dramatic hikes for Mr Bancel and others as "reflective of merit", according to reporting from The Washington Post.

Moderna is known for its lifesaving coronavirus vaccine. The company reportedly stated that shareholders have done well and overwhelmingly approved its compensation plan last year.

The pay is "appropriate in light of the increased scope of increasingly global responsibility for Moderna's executives", Moderna said.

Mr Bancel (50) said he is donating the proceeds of stock sales to charity. The report said he owns stock worth at least $2.8 billion and, as of the end of last year, had additional stock-based compensation valued at $1.7 billion.

Mr Bancel also reportedly plans to increase the price of Moderna’s COVID shots massively; taking the charge up fivefold to $130 as the US government brings the public health emergency to an end on May 11. The change would reportedly leave Americans fending for themselves for COVID tests, treatments and vaccines that were provided free during the pandemic.

Moderna expects demand for the vaccine to fall by 90 per cent, with the company out of pocket for any wasted doses, Mr Bancel said at a Senate hearing. During the pandemic, the federal government picked up those costs.

The company has reportedly been charging the US government around $26 per dose.

"To protect people, we need to make more than we think is going to be needed. We are going to have to pay for it, " Mr Bancel said.

"Moderna plans to raise prices five-fold in the US. Meanwhile, the company has refused to share technology with a WHO-backed programme to build mRNA vaccine production in developing countries, instead filing far-reaching patents in South Africa where the programme is based, " Ms Kamal-Yanni said.

"How much will ever be enough? As Harry Truman said of Second World War Profiteers, Their greed knows no limit'. Pharmaceutical companies like Moderna are the War Profiteers of our time, and governments must curb their power with national and international actions to force the sharing of technology, remove intellectual property barriers, and cut prices, " she added.

Source: Punjab News Express

(Quotes via original reporting)