New York Times Vaccine appointments for kids remain limited, and Novavax shots are hard to come by.
The recently authorized Covid vaccines promised to protect the public against an expected uptick of respiratory illness this winter. But getting shots into arms is still proving challenging.
At first, there were distribution issues: Pharmacies and clinics had a limited number of doses, resulting in few or canceled appointments. Then there were snags with the new billing codes that providers and insurance companies need to pay for the shots. Those problems were to be expected, said Cynthia Cox, an insurance expert at the nonprofit think tank K.F.F., given that 2023 was the first year Covid shots were rolled out through the commercial market.
The early hiccups with claims and appointments for the Pfizer and Moderna shots have largely been resolved, she said, but other obstacles remain.
Doses for children, in particular, have been slow to reach doctors’ offices. “By the time we got our hands on them, and we knew the payers were going to pay for them, we had already missed opportunities,” said Dr. Tina Scott-Mordhorst, medical director of primary care for Children’s Nebraska in Omaha. Last fall, she said, the health system immunized close to 5,000 children in late September and October. This year, they were able to administer only around 600 pediatric doses in that time.