Fogbow

The Food and Drug Administration on Monday approved a reformulated coronavirus vaccine in a bid to provide increased protection ahead of cooler weather — even as the nation experiences a late-summer uptick of covid-19 cases and hospitalizations.

The shots, which target an omicron subvariant and were cleared for everyone 6 months and older, are manufactured by Moderna and by Pfizer and its German partner, BioNTech. If the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention signs off Tuesday, injections could be available in pharmacies, clinics and doctor’s offices by the end of the week.

The FDA decides who can get a shot, but it’s the CDC that recommends who should get it. That question has been vigorously debated by agency officials and its outside experts in recent days.

The CDC is leaning toward a broad recommendation that covers almost all ages, mirroring the FDA approach, according to federal officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. But it is possible that some on the agency’s panel of outside experts, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, will push for a targeted recommendation focused on those at greatest risk — older Americans or people with weakened immune systems or other illnesses. The committee is scheduled to meet Tuesday on the matter and CDC Director Mandy Cohen is expected to weigh in shortly afterward, the final step in allowing the new shot to be administered.

The big question is whether health authorities should try to sell the vaccine to a covid-fatigued public “by calling attention to the groups for whom the vaccines provide the strongest potential benefit — or by saying this [shot] provides some benefit to everyone, but a bigger one to some people,” said Jason L. Schwartz, an associate professor at the Yale School of Public Health.

While many people are referring to the updated shots as boosters, they actually represent a new vaccine formula, health officials said.

MsDaisy 2 wrote: ↑Mon Sep 18, 2023 12:15 pm My Mister’s youngest daughter is getting married in France and we’re supposed to leave here on Thursday. Today we went to the pharmacy to get Covid & Flu shots. We got the Flu shot but was told the Covid shot was no longer covered by insurance and it was going to cost $200.00 EACH! That’s insane! Has anyone else attempted to get one recently?

AndyinPA wrote: ↑Tue Sep 19, 2023 12:36 pm

MsDaisy 2 wrote: ↑Mon Sep 18, 2023 12:15 pm

Might be a good idea to wait until the pharmacies and insurance companies get their acts together.

Slim Cognito wrote: ↑Tue Sep 19, 2023 1:35 pm I just came from Walgreens where I got my flu and Moderna shots and didn’t have to pay a cent.

Guess I got lucky. I am over 65. Is that why?

Federal officials promised the new covid shot would be free and covered by insurance, but some Americans have encountered a different reality this week as they tried to get vaccinated, only to be denied coverage or charged up to $200.

They have faced myriad complications, from pharmacies being out of network, to the vaccine not showing up on lists of approved medical expenses, to needing prior authorization. Some Americans paid out of pocket to avoid waiting. Others say they weren’t even given that option.

The hiccups reflect a new reality for covid vaccines as they go from being treated as a public good to a commercial product. Now that the federal government is no longer buying and distributing all the shots, Americans must endure the usual headaches of dealing with insurance companies and a for-profit health care system.

“Last year there was one player — the federal government,” Mandy Cohen, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in an interview. “And now there’s a lot more players and … they’re not accountable to us.”

W. Kevin Vicklund wrote: ↑Fri Sep 29, 2023 2:21 pm At first, that's what Dr. Vicklund had to do. By the time the boosters started rolling out, they had enough data that she was cleared as long as she had a two week window on either side for her immunosuppressants.

Volkonski wrote: ↑Tue Oct 03, 2023 8:48 pm Mercury News :press:
@mercnews@press.coop
CDC is no longer distributing COVID vaccination cards

Covid-19 vaccination cards debuted in late 2020 as a simple way for the government and vaccine recipients to keep track of doses delivered and could be used to prove vaccination status for things like large events and international travel.