The CDC Delayed This Year's COVID Shots for Kids
As fall vaccination drives get underway and respiratory virus season approaches, more than half of US children face uncertainty over access to this year's COVID-19 shot, Ars Technica reports. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention unexpectedly delayed distribution of the shots to a key federal program and to some states.
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Why that program matters: it is the federal Vaccines for Children program, which provides vaccines at no cost to children who are uninsured, underinsured, Medicaid-eligible or Indigenous. Ars Technica puts eligibility at roughly 52 percent of all US children.
Some places go wider still. According to Guardian reporting cited by Ars Technica, at least 11 states and one US territory run a universal vaccine purchase program, buying all vaccines for children regardless of ability to pay or insurance status through contracts otherwise used for the federal program.