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Pfizer cuts vaccine price for poor

TRENTON, N.J. — Drug maker Pfizer Inc. has agreed to provide hundreds of millions of doses of its lucrative vaccine against pneumonia and meningitis at a fraction of the usual price for young children in poor countries.

The deal to provide 260 million shots of its Prevnar 13 vaccine for a few dollars each is Pfizer’s third agreement under an innovative program through which pharmaceutical companies, governments, health groups, and charities collaborate to bring poor countries a long-term supply of affordable vaccines against deadly diseases.

Prevnar 13, called Prevenar outside the United States, protects against 13 strains of pneumococcal disease. The bacterial disease can cause serious infections that can kill or leave survivors deaf, paralyzed, or with permanent learning or speech disabilities.

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Pneumococcal disease kills more than 1.6 million people annually, half under age 5 and nearly all of them in poor countries, according to the World Health Organization.

One Prevnar dose costs nearly $130 in the United States — unaffordable in much of Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

Associated Press