EDITORIAL: Mandate coverage for vaccines

Dec. 3--Pandemic-weary America eagerly awaits the arrival of at least two new COVID-19 vaccines to finally turn the corner back to more normal life.

Yet a series of surveys by Gallup and others show that about 40% of Americans say they will not get a vaccine.

That's a significant problem because it is not yet known what percentage of the population would have to be vaccinated to produce "herd immunity," the condition in which enough people are immune to prevent a pathogen's spread.

Unfortunately, not enough people receive seasonal flu vaccinations each year to produce herd immunity, and that does not bode well for the impending COVID-19 vaccination effort. According to a study of the 2017-2018 flu season by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, fewer than half of adults got flu shots, whereas 80% would have to get them to produce herd immunity. During that period, 61,000 Americans died of the seasonal flu.

Tellingly, the study also found that among people who did not have health insurance, only 16% received flu shots, compared with 42% of those who had health insurance.

That leads to a priority for the state and federal governments as vaccine distribution begins.

State Sen. Vincent Hughes, a Philadelphia Democrat, plans to introduce a bill requiring private health insurers, Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program to cover COVID-19 vaccinations.

As demonstrated by the UCSF flu vaccination study, such a step will be critical to ensure the vaccinations of as many people as possible, especially among low-income populations that COVID-19 has hit particularly hard.

Many insurers will cover the vaccines on their own, as they do flu shots, because vaccinations are far less expensive than the costs of treating infectious diseases.

But when the new Legislature convenes in January, guaranteeing that vaccination costs are covered should be among its highest priorities.

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