The End of Universal COVID-19 Vaccine Coverage Doesn't Mean the End of Payer Coverage, At Least Not for 2026: A Conversation with Kelly Moore, MD, MPH

Patient Care:^© As a public health communicator, could you comment on the challenges that the recommendation to end universal [COVID-19 vaccine] coverage creates at the state and local levels?

Kelly Moore, MD, MPH: Well, first, there’s some good news. Despite uncertainty about insurance coverage for COVID‑19 vaccines, America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP)—the trade organization representing many health insurance companies—has issued a statement that its member organizations are committed to continuing to cover COVID‑19 vaccines for the foreseeable future, at least through the end of 2026. That’s reassuring in terms of payment.

When they say “cover it,” they mean first-dollar coverage, no out-of-pocket cost to the recipient, just as we’ve seen in the past. We’ve also seen statements from Health and Human Services confirming that Medicaid and Medicare will continue to cover COVID‑19 vaccines without a copay or deductible. These are reassuring signs for this year.

However, we’ll need to wait and see how things develop over the coming years. Will affordable access to these vaccines be maintained? There has always been a challenge for uninsured adults who may need vaccines—unfortunately, there is currently no safety net for them to access these vaccines affordably. With anticipated changes in federal policy, we expect that by 2026 there could be a significant increase in the number of uninsured adults across the country.

Kelly L Moore, MD, MPH,is the president and CEO of Immunize.org and a leader in national and global vaccine policy and immunization program implementation. She has served in a variety of immunization policy advisory roles with the World Health Organization since 2016, including as chair of its Immunization Practices Advisory Committee. She has a long history with the ACIP as a working group member, liaison representative of the Association of Immunization Managers (2011–2015), and as a voting member (2015–2019).