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A healthcare worker prepares a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine at the vaccination clinic at the Peabody Institute Library in Peabody, Massachusetts, January 26, 2022.
Vanessa Leroy | bloomberg | Getty Images
The Biden administration announced Thursday program To provide free Covid vaccines to uninsured Americans through December 2024 after the federal government’s supply of shots runs out this fall.
These free shots, which the government buys at a discount, will be available to the uninsured at pharmacies and 64 state and local health departments.
The US Department of Health and Human Services also hopes that vaccine makers will donate vaccines to pharmacies as part of the program.
there between 25 million and 30 million adults are uninsured In the US and other Americans whose insurance will not cover free Covid products this fall, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Currently, the government has a stockpile of vaccines purchased from three manufacturers, PfizerAnd accident And novafaxAnd those companies don’t sell the shots to healthcare providers.
In the fall, companies will begin selling shots directly to health providers and the government supply is expected to run out.
HHS announced in April for the first time about bridge access software, But he did not say when the program would stop providing the shots for free to the uninsured until Thursday.
The program reflects a broad shift in the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic around the world. With Covid cases and deaths dropping to new lows, governments rolling back strict health mandates like masking and social distancing, and the rate of people getting Covid vaccines has slowed to a crawl over the past year.
Earlier this year, the World Health Organization declared the end of the Covid global public health emergency. In May, HHS declared an end to the state of emergency in the United States.
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