Low-income families are still waiting on Covid-19 vaccines for kids, but states say they’re coming
By Brenda Goodman, CNN
(CNN) — Valerie Brickey went to three pharmacies and her regular pediatrician in late September in an effort to find a Covid-19 vaccine for her 16-year-old granddaughter, Ryleigh.
Both Brickey and her granddaughter, who live together in a small apartment near Durham, North Carolina, have health problems that make them more vulnerable to severe Covid symptoms.
Brickey keeps an eye on Covid levels in wastewater and knew that rising numbers in the area were putting them both in harm’s way.
But their hunt for an updated vaccine for Ryleigh has been fruitless.
Like millions of kids in the United States who are covered by Medicaid, Ryleigh is eligible for free vaccines through the federal Vaccines for Children, or VFC, program. It’s normally so seamless to use that Brickey wasn’t even aware they’d benefited from it. She just wasn’t charged for Ryleigh’s seasonal vaccines when she got them at her pediatrician’s office.
This year, however, Covid-19 vaccines haven’t been available through the Vaccines for Children program; their doctor told Brickey she had not planned to carry any Covid vaccines, which can be tricky to store.
Local pharmacies told her Ryleigh could get one only if she shelled out $368 for the shot.
“If I could afford $368, she wouldn’t be on Medicaid,” Brickey said. “Hello?”
Disruptions to the process
In North Carolina and other states, low-income families who normally get no-cost Covid-19 vaccines for their kids have been told those shots aren’t available because states have been unable to order Covid-19 vaccines through the VFC program.
They were required to wait for the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to formally recommend this year’s Covid vaccine for the VFC program, which it finally announced Monday.
Those recommendations say anyone over the age of 6 months can get a Covid vaccine after a discussion about its risks and benefits with a qualified health care provider, including doctors, nurses and pharmacists — a stipulation known as shared decision-making.
This year, the multistep process for making those recommendations was disrupted when Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services, abruptly removed all 17 members of the CDC’s independent vaccine advisory panel in June and replaced them with his own picks, some of whom have said the mRNA Covid vaccines are dangerous and should be taken off the market.
The panel, called the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, was supposed to vote on recommendations for Covid-19 vaccines at its June meeting, but those votes instead took place in mid-September to give the new members time to get up to speed.
A spate of high-profile resignations at the CDC over Kennedy’s vaccine policies — coupled with the firing of his newly installed CDC director, Dr. Susan Monarez — in August, compounded the uncertainty about when or even if the VFC shots would be available.
As a result, states were notified only this week that they could finally place orders for Covid vaccines for kids through the Vaccines for Children program.
Last year, the CDC had recommended Covid vaccines for the 2024-25 respiratory virus season and for the VFC by June.
“Children who use VFC have been deprived the updated vaccine for weeks while we have been waiting for a signature,” Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, who recently resigned as the head of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, wrote Monday in a post on social media. “That means privately insured kids had access while un- or underinsured kids did not. This is your new CDC.”
States say they’re working hard
Ryleigh has a nerve disorder that causes seizures as well as a condition that affects her body’s ability to regulate her blood pressure: postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, or POTS, which causes dizziness, headaches, nausea and a racing heart.
“She’s on heart medication, and you don’t need to put any more stressors on your body when you’re dealing with POTS,” Brickey said of why she was eager to get her granddaughter vaccinated against Covid. “She misses a lot of school already. I don’t want to add another thing onto this kid. She’s got enough.”
There’s another reason Brickey is eager to find a vaccine for Ryleigh: She’s Ryleigh’s primary caregiver and has diabetes, which may make her more susceptible to severe illness. Her granddaughter could bring the virus home from school, and she worries what could happen to Ryleigh if Brickey got sick.
Two years ago, a serious bout of sepsis hospitalized Brickey for a month.
“My system has not quite come back all the way,” she said. “I had to learn how to walk and everything all over again.”
Because of her age and preexisting condition, Brickey said, she didn’t have a problem getting a vaccine for herself, but she knows it doesn’t make either of them bulletproof. They both need to be protected.
Ryleigh’s health care is covered through North Carolina’s Medicaid program. The VFC program serves kids on Medicaid as well as those who are uninsured or underinsured. In 2023, the latest year of data available, the VFC delivered 74 million vaccines to participating health care providers.
It’s impossible to know how many kids have been denied Covid vaccines this fall while waiting for the CDC to act.
Daskalakis said the delay in recommending the shots for adults meant missing “over 35 million opportunities for co-administration” of flu and Covid shots in the US.
According to Ryleigh’s vaccination records, which were reviewed by CNN, she got a flu vaccine September 28 at a local Walgreens. But Brickey says they were told there were no Covid vaccines available unless they wanted to pay out of pocket.
Brickey called Ryleigh’s pediatrician again Monday and was told the office still can’t order vaccines from the VFC program.
The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services did not respond to CNN’s request for comment about when it expects to have shots available for people served by the VFC.
Several other state health departments contacted by CNN – including South Carolina, Hawaii and Utah – said they have begun the process of notifying their VFC providers that they can now order Covid vaccines for kids. After orders are placed, they said, it would take about two weeks for the shots to reach doctors offices or pharmacies.
The Association of Immunization Managers, a national umbrella organization for state vaccination programs, shared similar information.
“CDC contracts are in effect, and states can now order pediatrics Covid vaccines for the Vaccines for Children program,” Dr. Michelle Fiscus, a pediatrician and the group’s chief medical officer, said Monday. “If an order is placed today, they would hopefully have vaccines by the end of the week.”
Although Covid vaccines may soon become available for low-income kids, the chaos and delays behind this year’s rollout means they may still be hard to find.
“Not all locations may have all the vaccines that are recommended for you or your child – this may be especially true for Covid vaccines right now,” Charla Hayley, director of communications for the Utah Department of Health, said in an email. “You can find vaccine providers near you at vaccinefinder.org. Call before you go to find out if the vaccine you want is available and how much it might cost.”
Officials in Kentucky said they’re working hard to get VFC shots to providers.
“We encourage everyone to speak with their healthcare provider and consider getting an updated COVID-19 shot this fall to help protect themselves and their family, especially those younger than 2 years of age, those older than 65 years of age, and those with conditions that place them at increased risk of severe infections, including pregnancy,” Kendra Steele, executive director in the Office of Public Affairs for the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, said in an email.
As for Ryleigh and her grandmother, they are still waiting anxiously for her vaccine.
“You do what you’ve got to do in this life to get by, and that’s what we’re trying to do, by taking every precaution we can to not make things worse,” Brickey said.
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