Four Million People Have Received One of the New COVID-19 Vaccines: CDC

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) headquarters in Atlanta, Ga., on Aug. 25, 2023. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

Some four million Americans have received one of the new COVID-19 vaccines, U.S. officials say.

“Already four million Americans have rolled up their sleeves,” Dr. Mandy Cohen, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), told reporters during a briefing this week.

More than 10 million vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna have been shipped to various locations, including pharmacies, according to CDC officials.

About 56.5 million people, or 17 percent of the population, received one of the bivalent vaccines, which were available from the fall of 2022 until recently, according to CDC data. The shots mostly went to people aged 65 and older.

Some people have reported struggling to find doses of the new vaccines at their local pharmacies and doctors.

Jen Kates, a senior vice president at KFF, said on X in late September that her vaccine appointment was canceled because the pharmacy at which it was scheduled did not have enough vaccines.

Others were able to find a shot but were charged more than $100. Insurers and government insurance were supposed to cover shots for the insured, while people without insurance can still receive one without paying under the CDC’s Bridge Access Program.

“The Biden-Harris Administration, through HHS, has been working directly with manufacturers and distributors to ensure that the vaccines are getting to pharmacies, hospitals, clinics, and other vaccination sites, including long-term care facilities as quickly as possible,” a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which includes the CDC, told Reuters.

Dr. Nirav Shah, the CDC’s deputy director, said the agency is aware that people have gone to receive a vaccine, or taken their child to receive one, and that there were not any available.

“My message for folks who have had that experience is twofold. The first is, please don’t give up on the vaccine. Please know that vaccine is available,” he said. “And ... more and more vaccine is getting out there every single day, every single week. And so please check back in with your provider with your pharmacist, because it’s likely if they didn’t have vaccine two weeks ago, they will have it.”

CDC officials said they tried to cut down on barriers in the supply chain to quicken the delivery of doses. Distribution has shifted to businesses instead of the government, which helmed the network for prior versions of the vaccines.

Recommendations

The CDC recommends at least one dose of the new vaccines, which were authorized and approved on Sept. 11 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration with virtually no clinical trial data, for Americans 6 months of age and older regardless of prior vaccination or infection.

The widespread recommendations are in contrast to many other countries and Florida, which has advised against vaccinating many younger, healthy people due to how many have previously been vaccinated, contracted COVID-19, or both.

Observational data for the bivalent vaccines, or the previous versions, found weak initial effectiveness that quickly waned.

CDC officials made unsupported claims during the briefing, part of a trend for the agency. “These vaccines will prevent severe disease for COVID-19,” Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Disease, told reporters. There’s no evidence that’s true.

The only clinical study data for the new shots is from a study Moderna ran that included injecting 50 humans with the company’s updated formation. The result was a higher level of neutralizing antibodies. Officials believe antibodies protect against COVID-19.

Moderna did not provide any clinical efficacy estimates for infection, severe disease, or death.

Pfizer said it was running a trial but has not reported any results.

Novavax’s vaccine was authorized later without any new trial data. CDC officials said the agency also recommends that shot.

“This is a great vaccine for anybody, but particularly for individuals who didn’t want to take one of the mRNA vaccines,” Dr. Shah said.

Cost

Manufacturers are charging the federal government more than ever for the new vaccines.

Pfizer and Moderna charged around $20 per dose for the original vaccines. They are charging around $85 per dose for the new vaccines for people aged 12 and older, and up to $97 for the new vaccines for younger children.

The companies were charging the private sector up to $128 a dose. Pfizer’s shot was lower priced for adults, while Moderna’s came in higher for most children.

Novavax charged $16 for its initial vaccine but is now charging the government $58 a dose for adults and children.

Novavax is charging the private sector $130 a dose.

“You don’t have to pay out of pocket for your vaccine, but it is not cost free. There are costs to making a vaccine available,” Health Secretary Xavier Becerra said while getting a shot in Washington in September.

Officials have said they expect the vaccines to be updated annually, similar to the framework for influenza vaccines. There’s also some work on so-called next-generation vaccines or shots that work better. That includes a trivalent vaccine that targets measles, mumps, and COVID-19.