Expanding Adult Vaccine Access

With respiratory illnesses continuing to put pressure on health care facilities nationwide, the importance of vaccines, to help prevent and lower the risk of severe illness, has once again taken center stage. However, a CDC vaccine confidence report suggests that vaccination rates plummeted during the pandemic and have yet to reach pre-pandemic levels. One of the barriers is cost, something that a provision in the Inflation Reduction Act attempts to rectify by requiring Medicaid and Medicare Part D plans to cover CDC-recommended vaccines.   

How might the US ensure easy, efficient access to vaccinations specifically among adults? What barriers do low-income communities continue to face in accessing vaccinations and how do we address the needs of communities of color to reduce health disparities?  

The Hill will bring together policymakers and health care leaders for a discussion on supporting access to vaccinations among adult populations.

Thursday, January 26

1:00 PM ET/10:00 AM PT

SPEAKERS:

• Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, Administrator, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services 
• Rep. Terri Sewell (D-AL), Member, Ways & Means Health Subcommittee
• Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-OH), Member, Ways & Means Health Subcommittee
• Gary Puckrein, PhD, President & CEO, National Minority Quality Forum
• Dr. Tochi Iroku-Malize, MD, President, American Academy Of Family Physicians
• Nandini Selvam, PhD, President, Government Solutions, IQVIA

MODERATOR:

• Bob Cusack, Editor-In-Chief, The Hill

SPONSORED BY:

Avalere Health has released a whitepaper “Adult Vaccine Coverage in Medicaid: Assessing Existing Gaps and Looking Ahead to Implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act,” detailing Avalere research that identified gaps in adult vaccine coverage in the 50 states + D.C., and how states will need to address those gaps to comply with the Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA) new Medicaid vaccine coverage requirements.

Funding for this research was provided by Pfizer. Avalere Health retained full editorial control.