When Jimmy Healy’s 18-month-old daughter was hospitalized with Covid-19 last month, Healy was thankful she had at least gotten the vaccine beforehand.
“How much worse could it have been if she didn't receive the vaccine the first time?,” he’d asked himself.
Under new federal government’s guidelines, she’s not eligible to get the Covid-19 vaccine anymore. This is extremely concerning for Healy, who thinks vaccines are necessary to protect against severe illness.
“You're trying to keep up with the virus itself,” he said, “and if you can't get those vaccines, you can't keep up with the virus.”
In a social media post last month, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the Moderna, Pfizer and Novavax vaccines only are approved for those with a high-risk health condition, such as obesity or asthma. Those over the age of 65 are also eligible to get the vaccine. All others must consult with a doctor to be recommended to get the vaccine. The federal government had just a few months prior announced that the Covid-19 vaccine was no longer recommended for healthy pregnant women and children.
This comes after the CDC has recommended for years that most people over the age of 18 and those at high risk get the vaccine to be better protected from strains and decrease the risk of getting long Covid.
Healy worked in quality control at the former Catalent plant in 2021, checking Moderna vaccines before they were distributed. As a scientist, he sees these restrictions as an attack on science.
“It’s just the start of a long tirade that's going to be a fight against some of the best weapons, I would say, we have against illness,” he said. “These are very well studied aspects of medicine, and the fact that we could possibly lose out on that has me very nervous.”
Amid restrictions, demand increases
IU Health declined requests to interview a local pediatrician to discuss the current demand for the Covid-19 vaccine. But Sarah Bosslet, owner of Traders Point Pediatrics in Indianapolis, said demand for the vaccine has risen. More parents are contacting her to ask when she’ll have vaccines.
“Parents want to be able to choose whether or not to give this vaccine to their children and they're worried that that choice will be taken away,” she said. “If a family decides they don't want a Covid vaccine, that's their choice, but to put up hurdles that make it hard for families who know they want it to access it and then put them at risk of infection when they were trying to protect themselves anyway, that is what's frustrating to me.”
Dr. Bosslet is ordering the same number of vaccines as she has in the past; the way she orders them and which ones she orders have changed. She usually delivers vaccines through private insurance and through the Vaccines for Children (VCF) program.
“That VFC program has let us know that Pfizer Covid vaccine for the little children has been removed as an option and that we should be able to order the Moderna vaccine, but that is pending the decisions of the ACIP (Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices),” she said.
Even though CDC recommendations have changed, hers haven’t. She’ll still help those who want the vaccine get it.
“We are trying to follow the best science and recommendations that we can,” she said. “So, knowing that those age groups are higher risk for hospitalization and death, those are the children that we're really going to work with to make sure they can have access. And then we firmly believe that any parent who wants to be able to protect their child from Covid, regardless of their medical conditions, should have access to that.”
Vaccine confusion, hesitancy on the rise
Experts say these new restrictions are confusing people and could make people more hesitant to get the vaccine.
Public Health Expert Graham McKeen said if fewer people are willing to get vaccinated, that could mean higher infection rates and a decrease in immunity this winter.
“Over time, that natural immunity wanes, and then the virus also changes, and then we're susceptible again,” he said.
McKeen said these recent decisions erode people’s trust in the Covid-19 vaccine. Vaccination rates are already low, with just under 15 percent of people ages 6 months to 17 years getting a booster in the last two years. And as of May last year, only 13.3 percent of pregnant women ages 18-49 got an updated vaccine; just under six percent of kids ages 6 months to 4 years were up to date with their vaccine.
A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey found that nearly 40 percent of adults chose not to get the 2023-24 Covid-19 vaccine because of concerns about serious/unknown side effects. About 34 percent had a lack of concern about getting sick, 26 percent held the belief that the vaccine can’t prevent infection and 24 percent reported they didn’t trust the government.
“When vaccines work, there's nothing to see,” said pediatrician and CEO of Eskenazi Health Center Dawn Haut. “So, prevention, which is our primary care business, it's invisible, so no one gets very excited about things that you can't see…So what happens is people forget about things like measles because we don't see them anymore. And so then they think, ‘Well, wait a minute, why do we even care about the vaccine? Then, measles isn't a problem, you know?’ And so it's easy to just sort of think, ‘I'll just skip it.’”
Dr. Bosslet said it’s already difficult for parents to navigate the healthcare system. These restrictions may make it even harder to get accurate information.
“It's getting harder and harder to have time to talk to your doctor about all of these things,” she said. “And so, when you add another layer of barrier to access for care, parents are left to find information in places we'd rather they not. So, they're watching TikTok to see what an influencer is recommending, and that may not be the best guidance. And so this has just created a situation where we're really struggling to make sure parents have access to good information that's going to support them in taking care of their children.”
McKeen still recommends everyone 6 months and older get the vaccine.
“We really need those children vaccinated because they're some of the most vulnerable populations we have out there,” Mckeen said.
Whether insurance will cover the cost to get the Covid-19 vaccine also concerns McKeen. For those 65 and older, or six months and above with an underlying health condition, insurance should cover the cost. For everyone else, the cost is likely not covered. Depending on the manufacturer, it can cost up to $150 to get the vaccine.
“If we have to, we’re paying out of pocket,” Healy said. “That's how much my wife and I think this is important for our children.”
A grim future
The Trump Administration last month also canceled nearly $500 million in contracts to help develop mRNA vaccines. The technology was used to make the first Covid-19 vaccines during the pandemic. McKeen thinks dismantling this infrastructure will put the country behind in responding to future pandemics.
“That technology can make us be really ready to adapt and create a vaccine for something new,” he said. “And a lot of us still have concerns about things like avian influenza, H5N1, and so some of those vaccine contracts have been terminated, and that puts us behind the ball if we do have another pandemic.”
Amid all these changes, McKeen doesn’t think Covid-19 vaccination rates will go back up anytime soon.
“We need a really concerted effort in public education and public health education and science communication about the benefit of these amazing tools that we have,” he said, “because they do work.”
