MPs have slammed pharmacy giants for considering a 400 per cent hike in the price of the Covid booster jabs.

Caroline Lucas, MP for Brighton Pavilion, wrote a letter signed by MPs from different parties slamming Pfizer and Moderna for the potential increase in the price of the vital injections.

She said pharmacy giants “must confirm now” that the cost of the vaccines would not rise in the UK.

In her letter, she wrote to the chief executives of Pfizer and Moderna, two of the biggest providers of boosters in the country.

The Argus: The booster programme is continuing across the UKThe booster programme is continuing across the UK (Image: PA)

She wrote to Stephane Bancel, chief executive of Moderna, saying: “With the NHS already under significant pressure and the cost of medicines increasing year on year, we are extremely concerned about the multiple impacts of a possible price hike.

“The UK has already been paying high prices for your vaccines at £24-28 per dose. With Moderna's vaccine estimated to cost as little as £2.33 to produce, even this price represented a 1100 per cent markup.”

To both Mr Bancel and Albert Bourla of Pfizer, she wrote: “We hope you can provide us with appropriate reassurance in the very near future.”

The letters were also signed by Wendy Chamberlain, the Liberal Democrat MP for North East Fife, Philippa Whitford Scottish National Party MP for Central Ayrshire and Dan Poulter, Conservative the MP for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich.

The Argus: Caroline Lucas wrote the cross-party letter Caroline Lucas wrote the cross-party letter (Image: PA)

Ms Lucas said that the booster jabs had already earned the companies billions in profits.

She urged Mr Bourla to reconsider the price hike, writing: “The UK has already been paving the highest known prices for Pfizer's vaccines, with your company reportedly having already increased the price per dose from £18 to £22.

“With Pfzer's vaccine estimated to cost £4.98 to produce, even the original price represented a 340 per cent markup.”

“Throughout its development, the Pfizer BioNtech vaccine received huge amounts of public money and support internationally.

“Even the mRNA technoloey that Pfizer/BioNtech employed in the Covid-19 vaccine is rooted in decades of publicly-funded research. A people-funded vaccine should be cheap and freely available.”