Missouri Health Officials Concerned as CDC Updates COVID Vaccine Guidance
Columbia, MO – Local health organizations in Missouri are preparing for potential access issues to updated COVID-19 vaccines following recent changes to federal guidelines. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has removed the emergency declaration enacted during the height of the pandemic, a move that shifts the recently-updated COVID vaccine to a nonessential status for many, raising concerns about insurance coverage.
The change, initially noted in a post by Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., means insurance companies are no longer required to cover the cost of the vaccine for a wider range of individuals.Austin Krohn, public facts specialist at Columbia/Boone County public Health and Human Services, anticipates insurance providers may begin limiting coverage to those deemed essential.
“As it’s coming down to insurance,” Krohn said, ”Yeah, that is going to be a problem.”
Currently, no organizations are actively lobbying against the removal of COVID-19 vaccination from insurance coverage, but Krohn suggested this may change as the respiratory illness season approaches. he emphasized the need for state and local health recommendations to supplement CDC guidance, as doctors may advise vaccination for a broader population than currently covered by insurance.
“We just wanna reiterate that vaccines are safe and effective,” Krohn said. “We still encourage everyone that can get them to get them.”
Despite potential insurance limitations, the City of Columbia Health has affirmed its commitment to providing care nonetheless of a patient’s ability to pay, and Krohn anticipates this policy will continue even if vaccine coverage is revoked. funding through grants and other sources should mitigate the impact on their services, though he acknowledged the situation remains fluid. “I’m not sure that it will affect us a whole lot given, you know grants and funding and things,” Krohn said, “But it’s kind of a ’time will tell’ thing as well.”
