Americans to pay for COVID-19 vaccines, treatments

Americans will have to pay for COVID-19 vaccines and treatments as soon as January 2023, as U.S. Congress has nearly run out of funds, The Washington Post has reported.

Earlier this month, the Department of Health and Human Services announced that commercial sales of COVID-19 vaccines, previously distributed by the U.S. government and offered at no cost.

This would begin in early 2023, leaving Americans to obtain vaccines through insurers or pay by themselves, the report said.

Once federal purchases end, the roughly eight per cent of the U.S. population that has no health insurance would be worst hit, it said.

The report said that even those with health insurance would have to fund some of the cost out of pocket, which was a problem as the cost of living is soaring in the United States.

It added that it was very likely that fewer eligible people would be driven to take their fourth shot. (Xinhua/NAN)