The Biden administration on Thursday announced a program to provide free Covid vaccines to uninsured Americans through December 2024 after the federal government's supply of shots runs out this fall.
Those free shots, which the government is purchasing at a discount, will be available to the uninsured at pharmacies and 64 state and local health departments.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services also is hoping vaccine makers will donate shots to pharmacies as part of the program.
There are between 25 million and 30 million uninsured adults in the United States and other Americans whose insurance will not cover free Covid products this fall, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Currently, the government has an inventory of vaccines purchased from three manufacturers, Pfizer, Moderna and Novavax, and those companies do not sell the shots to health-care providers.
In the fall, the companies will begin selling shots directly to health providers and the government's supply is expected to run out.
The HHS in April first announced the Bridge Access Program, but had not said when the program would stop providing shots for free to the uninsured until Thursday.
The program reflects a broad shift on the Covid-19 pandemic's effects worldwide. As Covid cases and deaths have dropped to new lows, governments have rolled back stringent health mandates such as masking and social distancing, and the rate at which people get Covid vaccines has slowed to a crawl over the past year.
Earlier this year, the World Health Organization declared an end to the global Covid public health emergency. In May, the HHS declared an end to the emergency in the United States.