The U.S. government is planning to stop paying for COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, and shift the bill onto the health care industry and eventually the consumer—possibly making it one of the first countries to end the practice of giving out coronavirus vaccines for free.

The Department of Health and Human Services will hold a planning session on Aug. 30, the Wall Street Journal reported, to bring together representatives from the health care industry as well as state health departments, to discuss the commercialization of COVID-19 treatments.

The move comes a few days after White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha confirmed on Tuesday that the Biden Administration had taken steps to get past the crisis phase of the pandemic and stop buying vaccines, treatments, and tests as early as fall.

What does this mean for Americans?
According to Bloomberg Intelligence’s (BI) Sam Fazeli, this change could make it harder for individuals facing the highest risk of serious infections to access vaccines and treatments.

For instance, “[t]he roughly 8% of the US population that has no health insurance will be worst hit,” Fazeli said. These individuals face a higher risk of infection because they typically work in jobs that regularly expose them to the virus, he noted. In addition, this population has higher rates of obesity and other health issues, which make them more susceptible to severe infections.

“Even those with health insurance will have to fund some of the cost out of pocket, which is a problem at a time when cost of living is rising fast,” Fazeli said. “So it is very likely that the percentage of eligible people who roll up their sleeves for yet another booster shot will be even lower than the 34% of eligible people who got their fourth shot.”

So far, roughly 110 million Americans—less than half of fully vaccinated individuals—have received a booster dose, which has been available to all adults since November 2021.

“Even if there is a big new wave of infections, unless disease severity is proving to be worse, I don’t think people will be more driven to take a booster,” Fazeli added.

A recent survey from BI found that 50% of respondents said that they were not willing to pay for a vaccine, and just 30% said they would be willing to pay more than $25, according to Fazeli.

Ultimately, if fewer Americans receive their shots than last spring, “there is a substantial risk that the U.S. will fall further behind the rest of the world where the shots are free,” Fazeli said. “That could mean far more infections in the U.S., if not hospitalizations and deaths,” he added.

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