Missouri health officials are bracing for the fall COVID season after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently changed vaccine guidelines.
According to a post by Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the CDC has revoked the emergency declared by the Biden Administration at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This removal means the recently-updated Covid vaccine is now considered nonessential for many groups, leaving some organizations to worry that doctors may want to recommend it, but insurance companies are not required to pay for it.
Austin Krohn is the public information specialist at Columbia/Boone County Public Health and Human Services. He said he would not be surprised if insurance companies began to pull coverage from those who are not considered an essential group for vaccination.
“Since it's coming down to insurance,” Krohn said, “Yeah, that is going to be a problem.”
Krohn said he hasn’t seen any organization aiming to lobby against the removal of the COVID-19 vaccination from insurance coverage. It may be important however, moving into the colder months.
“It very well may become necessary to kind of get that ball rolling again in these politicians' minds as we get into the respiratory illness seasons,” Krohn said, “ And see how these new rules and regulations affect the upcoming season.”
Krohn believes it would be helpful for vaccine recommendations to include information coming from the state and local level, as doctors may continue to recommend the vaccination for more people than the CDC currently does.
“We just wanna reiterate that vaccines are safe and effective,” Krohn said, “We still encourage everyone that can get them to get them”
Krohn also said that he doesn’t anticipate a lack of insurance coverage to affect who receives care from City of Columbia Health. The organization promises on its website that no one will be turned away due to lack of payment.
He anticipates this program continuing even if insurance coverage for COVID vaccinations gets revoked.
“I'm not sure that it will affect us a whole lot given, you know grants and funding and things” Krohn said, “But it's kind of a ‘time will tell’ thing as well.”
