Why It ’s So Hard to Get Kids Vaccinated Against COVID-19

When medical treatments or vaccines are hard to get, it’s usually because of too much demand and not enough supply. But in the case of COVID-19 vaccines for kids, it’s the other way around: low demand for the shot is tanking supply. While the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that anyone ages six months and older get vaccinated against COVID-19, parents are finding it hard to track down kid-sized doses. Usually, they would rely on their pediatricians for all childhood vaccines, but many are not stocking the latest COVID-19 shot. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Why not? And how can you secure a shot for your tot? Stocking the shot is now financially risky for pediatricians When the COVID-19 vaccine was first authorized for kids, it was during the public health emergency, so the federal government bought doses for the entire population. State health departments distributed these through mass vaccination clinics, pharmacies, and to doctors’ offices. But ever since the Biden Administration declared the end of the public health emergency in May 2023, doctors must buy doses on the commercial market, just as they do for other childhood vaccines. That means they need to estimate how many doses they expect to use and hope that their calculations match up with demand. At the start of the respiratory virus season, the math was even riskier: insurers weren’t ready with the proper codes to reimburse doctors for vac...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 Source Type: news