A month after federal officials recommended new versions of COVID-19 vaccines, 7% of U.S. adults and 2% of children have gotten a shot.
One expert called the rates “abysmal.”
The numbers, presented Thursday at a meeting held by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, come from a national survey of thousands of Americans, conducted two weeks ago.
The data also indicated that nearly 40% of adults said they probably or definitely will not get the shot. A similar percentage of parents said they did not plan to vaccinate their children.
Just got mine today. There were a couple hiccups for me though.
First is communication. I didn’t know these were available until a family member mentioned it. The pharmacy has signs for flu shots, why not covid?
Second, supply. I tried making an appointment a week ago, but they didn’t have any, so I had to wait until now.
Finally is insurance. My provider is fantastically opaque about whether they’d cover it. I didn’t know if I’d have to pay for the shot until I saw $0 on the receipt.
To say this has been fumbled would be an understatement. I’m not convinced that any agencies or companies are even trying to get people vaxxed.
Regarding insurance, the CDC has a program to provide free vacinations to those who are not covered by insurance. All you need to do is go to a participating pharmacy. They will bill the CDC program if they cannot bill insurance.
To find a participating pharmacy, go to https://www.vaccines.gov/ and select the Bridge Access Program filter after making the search.
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/programs/bridge/index.html
Fuck, wish I had known about this a month ago before I paid out the ass for my shot. Oh well.
Doing good work helping other people not get screwed like me lol.
This is super helpful. As somebody without insurance, I was hoping to not have to pay out of pocket for it. Had no idea about this program.
When I got to the pharmacy I was sent to by the .gov website, I at first couldn’t find my insurance card in my bag, and they weren’t going to give me the shot, even though the .gov site said it wasn’t needed.
And even though I had entered all the correct insurance information asked on the website form in order to book the appointment.
Eventually I found my old card and it had enough of the right information (prescription bin, specifically) that they were able to bill my insurance.
So, if you don’t have insurance, be sure that’s known when you book the appointment. If you do, bring your card.
I also had 4 appointments cancelled because they were out of vaccine. Even the tech who was only able to give me my flu shot was upset, because she and her extended family were planning on getting their Covid shots and couldn’t, so we bonded over our distress.
Once the government bowed out of it, the private sector just completely bungled it. My pharmacy said I was much easier and productive to buy from the govt. My kids doc said it’s been a nightmare dealing with these companies (the rsv one too).
Logistics aside, you are right about comms. People have no clue there is a new one. It doesn’t have a good name. At least “bivalent” distinguished between the OG vaccines and the new one.