In the US, vaccines and Covid treatments are no longer free

Vaccines and Covid treatments will no longer be free in the United States.

After the emergency of the last two years, the federal government is preparing to take a step back, effectively leaving the bill to the Americans.

An easy transition on paper but which in practice presents many difficulties, primarily fairness in the distribution of vaccines and treatments, especially for those who do not have health insurance.

In addition to the fact that Medicare and Medicaid, the two public health care programs for over 65s and low-income patients, do not cover antivirals because they are approved on an emergency basis.

To define the new strategy, the White House has convened a meeting with all the players in the sector for August 30 with the aim of outlining the next steps and ensuring that, despite the transition, the fight against Covid does not suffer any setback. .

In fact, many critics believe that the transition from public to private management could jeopardize the progress made against the virus by exposing the United States to new waves of Covid precisely in what is expected to be a particularly aggressive flu season.

"Without the government buying vaccine doses upfront, the United States could lose ground to other countries in gaining quick access to vaccines for new variants and boosters," warns Larry Levitt in the Wall Street Journal.

The White House COVID response coordinator, Ashish Jha, instead tries to wipe out fears: "We will make sure that the transition does not exclude anyone and does not get to a point where no one can get a vaccine," he explains. government could stop buying Covid vaccines, treatments and tests directly in the fall.

The transition could translate into billions of dollars in additional profits for pharmaceutical companies that make vaccines and antiviral treatments as commercial prices are likely to be higher than those paid by the government.

The big pharmaceuticals, including Pfizer and Moderna, made at least $ 79 billion in revenues globally last year from sales of vaccines and treatments for Covid.