A health care worker prepares a dose of Pfizer’s BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine at the vaccination clinic at the library of the Peabody Institute in Peabody, Mass., on Jan. 26, 2022.
Vanessa Leroy | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The Biden administration announced on Thursday a program Provide free COVID-19 vaccines to uninsured Americans through December 2024 after the federal government’s vaccine supply runs out this fall.
These free vaccines, purchased by the government at a discounted price, will be available to the uninsured at pharmacies and in 64 state and local health departments.
As part of the program, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services also wants vaccine makers to donate vaccines to pharmacies.
between 25 million and 30 million uninsured adults This fall, free COVID-19 products will not be covered by insurance in the U.S. and other Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Currently, the government has vaccine stocks purchased from three manufacturers, Pfizer, modern and Novavaxand the companies will not sell the vaccines to healthcare providers.
In the fall, the companies will begin selling vaccines directly to healthcare providers, just as the government’s supplies are expected to run out.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) first announced in April bridge access plan, It did not say when the program would stop giving free shots to the uninsured until Thursday.
The plan reflects a broad shift in the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on a global scale. The pace of vaccinations has also slowed over the past year as the number of cases and deaths from the novel coronavirus fell to new lows and governments rolled back strict health orders such as wearing masks and maintaining social distance.
Earlier this year, the World Health Organization declared the end of the global COVID-19 public health emergency. In May, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced the end of the U.S. state of emergency.
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