The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urges everyone 6 months and older to get at least one dose of the latest version of the COVID-19 vaccine, which was recently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. As a doctor who specializes in public health and vaccines for adults, I have been briefed by the CDC and I agree with its recommendations, especially given the recent rise in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. I got the COVID vaccine and the flu shot this month.
It is critical now that Americans — especially those who are most at risk because they are older or have underlying medical conditions — follow the CDC’s recommendations.
This will be a challenge because most people must now rely on health insurance to pay for the vaccine, which has an out-of-pocket cost of more than $100.
In May, the federal government ended the public health emergency.This designation previously ensured that all COVID-19 vaccines would be freely available, even if arrive People without health insurance.
During the state of emergency, the federal government purchased all COVID-19 vaccines and paid providers to administer them. Now that the system has shifted to the private commercial market, the 25 million to 30 million adults who lack health insurance — and those whose insurance does not cover all or part of the vaccine — will have more difficulty getting these life-saving vaccines.
Not surprisingly, the initial rollout of the new vaccines has been complicated by delays in insurance coverage and problems shipping vaccines to providers.
Watching this unfold — and comparing it to a relatively seamless system during a public health emergency — makes me angry. Why are we making it so difficult for the most vulnerable adults to get recommended vaccines? Ensuring seamless access will save lives.
It pisses me off to see this unfold.
When faced with a public health threat like a pandemic, governments know how to respond: Pay Remove cost barriers to life-saving vaccines and ensure access to any provider certified to deliver them. So why can’t other vaccines recommended for other deadly diseases do the same?
Such programs are for children. The federal Vaccines for Children program provides free vaccines to doctors’ offices for children who are uninsured or whose insurance does not cover the cost. Signed into law 30 years ago, the Childhood Vaccine Program has averted an estimated 427 million cases of vaccine-preventable diseases and prevented more than 1 million premature deaths. This is a remarkable achievement.
Why don’t we do the same for adults? Lifesaving vaccines should be free, and our country needs a federal adult vaccine program.
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COVID-19 is not the only deadly infectious disease threat we face, and the CDC recommends that adults, depending on age, get vaccinated against potentially fatal diseases such as influenza, hepatitis B, shingles, tetanus, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and Papillomavirus (HPV). Influenza alone kills thousands of Americans each year.
However, we have no government program to pay for vaccines for uninsured or underinsured adults.
Not surprisingly, adult vaccination rates for the CDC-recommended vaccines are much lower than for childhood vaccines. In Pennsylvania and New Jersey and nationwide, less than 50% of adults are fully vaccinated.
This is likely related to other reasons besides lack of insurance, including vaccine hesitancy and misinformation about vaccines.even As the government pays for COVID-19 vaccines during the public health emergency, too many people are opting out.
The federal government created the Bridge Access program, a temporary measure to pay for COVID-19 vaccines for adults who are uninsured or whose insurance does not cover all costs associated with the vaccine. But it only applies to COVID-19 and will expire in December 2024.
public health expert has been advocating for adult vaccine programs for years. This advocacy effort merged in 2015 into the Adult Vaccine Access Alliance, whose mission is to “strengthen and improve adult vaccine access and utilization.”
But we need to do more.
The establishment of an adult vaccine program would be a major step forward in removing barriers and increasing adult immunization rates, especially for our most vulnerable populations.
Everyone interested in reducing the incidence of vaccine-preventable diseases Disease in adults should contact their congressional representatives to encourage such programs. Your life and the lives of those you care about may depend on it.
Eddy Bresnitz is a physician with the New Jersey Department of Health, former deputy commissioner of public health services, and the state’s chief epidemiologist. From 2008 to 2020, he served as global medical director for adult vaccines at Merck, during which time Merck’s position was neutral on national regulations. He retired from Merck several years ago and no longer holds individual shares in the company. dreddybres@gmail.com