Health officials are warning of a rising toll from the coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 3 million people worldwide and cost the economy more than $1 trillion.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday issued guidance for parents to avoid using insurance companies’ health care plans to cover cost-sharing and other out-of-pocket costs to cover the cost of vaccines.
The agency also released a report that said the public has paid $3.1 billion in COVID vaccines, with about half going to insurers and another $1.1 million going to employers.
“We are concerned about the potential impact of COVID vaccine cost sharing on coverage, and the number of people who would be covered under the COVID insurance coverage pool,” said Dr. Richard Fauci, director of the CDC’s National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention.
“This could have a significant impact on the cost-containment efforts that help protect people and keep people healthy.”
The guidance came amid a surge in COV-19 cases and deaths.
The government said on Tuesday that the number and pace of new cases in the U.S. and around the world had reached a “record high.”
On Tuesday, the CDC reported a record-high number of new coronaviruses, with 2,094 confirmed cases and 5,086 deaths worldwide.
The number of deaths rose by about 40% to 1,074.