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When a vaccine is developed, will it be available to people of limited means? Or will only wealthy people be able to afford it?
When a coronavirus vaccine is approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration after approved clinical trials demonstrating the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness (and that will likely happen at the end of this year or early next year at the earliest), it is almost a certainty that the vaccine will be available to those of limited means. In this case, “limited means,” almost certainly means those without health insurance. While no policies are at this time fully developed, our nation’s history with the yearly flu vaccine demonstrates that a sizable portion of that vaccine, by a combination of state and federal policies, is made available to those who do not have health insurance. That policy will more than likely be applied to the distribution of an approved coronavirus vaccine. That being said, it is important to understand that there is a concern that in the initial stages of manufacturing and distribution of such an approved vaccine, there will be initial shortages. In this regard, an advisory committee of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Academy of Medicines have been charged with establishing priorities for the availability of that vaccine. That prioritization, however, will have nothing to do with income. Instead, it is likely that priorities will be established first for medical providers treating coronavirus patients and second to those working in “essential jobs,” e.g., those working in nursing homes, grocery stores, pharmacies, utility maintenance, mail carriers, law enforcement, and fire fighting to ensure that those indisputable essential services can be maintained for the public as a whole pending widespread distribution of a coronavirus vaccine. The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security just this week published a proposed draft list of priorities for vaccinations that may be needed while the manufacturing and distribution of an approved coronavirus vaccine is fully operational. Again, that draft proposal urges that medical providers treating coronavirus patients be first to be vaccinated; and that the second tier of vaccinations be given to those carrying out essential services.
