Q&A: Are COVID-19 vaccinations free?
Q. Is the COVID-19 vaccine for free? — J.J.
A. J.J., you will not have to pay out of pocket to get the vaccine.
“The federal government is providing the vaccine free of charge to all people living in the United States,” states the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on its website.
“Vaccination providers can be reimbursed for vaccine administration fees by the patient’s public or private insurance company or, for uninsured patients, by the Health Resources and Services Administration’s Provider Relief Fund,” the CDC continues. “No one can be denied a vaccine if they are unable to pay a vaccine administration fee.”
In other words, you might be asked for insurance information but won’t be turned away if you aren’t insured. And you won’t have to pay.
Yet very little is in this world is truly free. You and I and other taxpayers fund the federal government that is providing the vaccine. The vaccine program began under the Trump administration as Operation Warp Speed, a $12 billion initiative to support the rapid development and manufacture of safe and effective vaccines and treatments to fight COVID-19, and to deliver them to Americans.
A miraculous endeavor, most certainly, but not one without a cost.
Contact Mary Hynes at mhynes@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0336. Follow @MaryHynes1 on Twitter.
