By IDSE News Staff
To help ensure that millions of uninsured and underinsured American adults continue to have access to free COVID-19 vaccinations, the CDC is launching the Bridge Access Program for COVID-19 vaccines this fall (https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/programs/bridge/index.html).
There are an estimated 25 million to 30 million adults without insurance in the United States, and there are additional adults whose insurance will not provide free coverage for COVID-19 vaccines after these products transition to the commercial market later this fall for procurement, distribution and pricing.
The pandemic highlighted long-standing barriers to adult vaccination, including lack of accessibility, availability and confidence. Under the management and oversight of the CDC, the Bridge Access Program—for a limited time—will allow adults who are uninsured or underinsured to receive free COVID-19 vaccinations.
“Protecting people from COVID-19 remains a top priority for CDC,” said CDC Director Mandy Cohen, MD. “CDC is partnering with state and local public health agencies, health centers, and pharmacies to ensure that all adults nationwide maintain access to lifesaving COVID-19 vaccines. Ultimately, we know that vaccines save money and lives. Vaccination is especially important as we head into fall and winter, a time when COVID-19 and other respiratory diseases are likely to circulate.”
A dedicated team within the CDC’s Immunization Services Division has been established to help launch the new program. The CDC will purchase COVID-19 vaccines and allocate them, along with the funding needed to implement this new program, through the CDC’s established network of state and local immunization programs. These partners will then facilitate distribution of the vaccines to participating community providers, including local health departments and Health Resources and Services Administration–supported health centers.
To broaden access, the CDC is also working closely with selected national pharmacy chains, as well as vaccine manufacturers, to enable uninsured adults to receive free COVID-19 vaccines at participating retail pharmacies.
The CDC plans to modify existing Increasing Community Access to Testing program contracts with these selected pharmacy partners with proven capacity to reach and vaccinate millions of adults. It is expected that through such agreements with participating pharmacy chains that the Bridge Access Program will reimburse pharmacies for the administration fees, enabling pharmacies to administer vaccine doses for the program. The CDC has also been working closely with manufacturers, as their voluntary collaboration is critical to ensure that there is an adequate supply of vaccines for this program.
Of note, the Bridge Access Program serves as a “temporary bridge” and is scheduled to end in December 2024. A long-term solution is the Vaccines for Adults program, proposed in both the fiscal year 2023 and 2024 presidential budgets, which would create a permanent initiative modeled after the successful Vaccines for Children program, and would cover all recommended vaccinations at no cost for uninsured adults. This proposal has not yet been enacted into law.
