COVID is back in the news just in time for the 2024 election, with the Biden administration repeatedly pushing yet another booster as other measures such as mask mandates are in place at movie studios, colleges and universities, and even elementary schools. Last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) sent out a press release that they recommended, with added emphasis, "everyone 6 months and older get an updated COVID-19 vaccine to protect against the potentially serious outcomes of COVID-19 illness this fall and winter." Yes, even babies should get the updated vaccine that became available later that week.
Now that the vaccine is available, the headlines aren't too charitable to how the rollout went. A sampling include:
- CNN, "Supply and insurance issues snarl fall Covid-19 vaccine campaign for some"
- The Hill, "New COVID vaccine campaign off to a bumpy start"
- TheMessenger, "COVID Boosters See Rocky Rollout After FDA Approval"
- Associated Press, "Some are reporting canceled COVID-19 vaccine appointments or insurance issues"
- CNBC, "Fall Covid shot rollout gets off to a bumpy start as some patients see insurance delays"
A top issue has been the exorbitant cost that people have been charged, close to $200 for the vaccine, because their insurance wasn't covering it yet. This is despite how government plans and private insurance companies are supposed to cover it.
As that CNBC report mentioned, painting not quite a good look for a vaccine that the Biden administration was all too happy to insist they "encourage" Americans to get:
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, some private health-care providers and CVS confirmed the temporary delays in coverage and emphasized that Americans can access Covid vaccines at no cost through insurance plans. They said the reason for the delays is that some insurers are still working to update their plans to include the new vaccines.
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A CMS spokesperson said the agency is “aware that some consumers have had difficulty accessing COVID-19 vaccines, including experiencing unexpected insurance coverage denials at the point of service.”
CMS has been in “close contact with the plans about these transitions for months,” and is reaching out again to ensure that their systems are “up-to-date and prepared to meet their obligations to provide coverage of Covid-19 vaccines for participants, beneficiaries, and enrollees,” according to the spokesperson.
A spokesperson for CVS told CNBC that some payers “are still updating their systems and may not yet be set up to cover the updated COVID-19 vaccines.” They added that the company’s pharmacy teams can help patients schedule a vaccine appointment for a later date if their coverage is denied.
The CNN article mentions supply issues as well. This is despite how Dr. Nirav Shah, principal deputy director of the CDC told the outlet that "[t]hose vaccines are now available. They are out there in pharmacies, doctor’s offices, health centers around the country," leading the article to mention they're available "[a]t least in theory."
In a particularly unsurprising, the problem appears to have been avoidable:
Some people have booked appointments and gotten a shot already, but others who have tried to follow the CDC’s guidance have run into roadblocks that didn’t exist before the government commercialized the Covid-19 vaccines this year. Some pharmacies have scheduled vaccine appointments only to cancel them when they run out of doses. And people have arrived for their vaccine appointments expecting the cost to be fully covered by their insurance, only to be told that they have to pay out of pocket for the shot, which retails for between $100 and $200, with an administration fee.
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On Wednesday, at a press event where he got his own Covid and Flu vaccines, Xavier Becerra, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, said they were working to smooth any hiccups.
“We’ve heard these stories, and we’ve contacted the insurers. We’ve contacted the pharmacists, and we’re working with–and to make sure everyone understands how this works–you should not have to pay out of pocket if you are insured,” Becerra said, adding that there are also free vaccines for people who are not insured through the Bridge Access Program.
For the most part, the snafus seem to be short-term problems related to limited early supplies or trouble getting the correct codes set up to bill insurance, but experts say they were also avoidable issues that are slowing the momentum of the fall vaccine campaign at a critical juncture. Last year, most people who got a bivalent Covid-19 vaccine did so within the first two months of approval, according to CDC data.
The article also mentions the unpleasant possibilities for those pharmacies which have to just eat the cost of the doses they can't use, especially since the government isn't paying for the vaccines anymore.
Another problem with the vaccine is that people don't want to get it, and who could blame them with how the Biden administration has handled COVID with mandates and censorship. It doesn't just come down to mandates and fear mongering, either. The Facebook Files, released by House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) have revealed that the Biden administration colluded with Big Tech to censor Americans who expressed skepticism, even if they weren't actually spreading misinformation.
The administration is also facing a lawsuit in the Missouri v. Biden case, resulting in losses in the district and appeals courts, though the U.S. Supreme Court temporarily put it on hold last week.
In sharing a post about a POLITICO article on how the Biden administration feels at a loss to combat some of the sentiment, Stephen L. Miller highlighted what people have been put through to make them feel this way.
As soon as Biden went down the road of "get vaccinated or lose your job" after people had their jobs already threatened for a year, that was it.
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) September 20, 2023
While members of the administration at a loss, they don't exactly have a solution for doing anything about combatting such sentiment.
"A Biden administration that vowed to restore Americans’ faith in public health has grown increasingly paralyzed over how to combat the resurgence in vaccine skepticism," Wednesday's piece begins, which is actually the first of a five part series.
As the piece goes on to mention:
And internally, aides and advisers concede there is no comprehensive plan for countering a movement that’s steadily expanded its influence on the president’s watch.
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But as President Joe Biden ramps up a reelection campaign centered on his vision for a post-pandemic America, there’s little interest among his aides in courting a high-profile vaccine fight — and even less certainty of how to win.
“There’s a real challenge here,” said one senior official who’s worked on the Covid response and was granted anonymity to speak candidly. “But they keep just hoping it’ll go away.”
The White House’s reticence is compounded by legal and practical concerns that have cut off key avenues for repelling the anti-vaccine movement, according to interviews with eight current and former administration officials and others close to the process.
That doesn't mean that we should expect the administration to do nothing about curbing such sentiment, though. Again, they "encourage" everyone to get the booster. And they did appeal that Missouri v. Biden decision.
"HHS also outlined a range of activities that it said is aimed at reinforcing that vaccines are safe and effective and promoting factual information, including monitoring social media for misinformation, working with local health officials to identify and correct misconceptions and publicizing its own set of online resources meant to address common questions and concerns," the piece also mentioned, with added emphasis.
Opposition to the COVID vaccine has even left to increasing skepticism on vaccines as a whole, with the piece noting that "political opposition to the Covid vaccines has melded in some corners with broader skepticism of immunizations as a whole."
Earlier this week, POLITICO also put out a piece highlighting how "The CDC wants your trust back: It’ll 'take time to rebuild.'" There are those who have a distrust of the CDC and the vaccines who aren't likely to be so willing to trust again. But for those who are will to trust again, it doesn't seem like how the rollout went will inspire confidence in such people.
Vaccines are not the only concern, either. In a column for Townhall published last month, Gavin Oxley outlined how the CDC has taken to repeating pro-abortion talking points about abortion-causing drugs that relies on pro-abortion politics rather than legitimate healthcare.
It's worth noting that many Americans are already not likely to get to the COVID booster. Last week's poll from The Economist/You Gov, which we also covered, showed that a plurality of total respondents (39 percent) say they're not getting it, while 36 percent say they've already gotten it (1 percent) or want to get it (35 percent).
