Americans may soon have to pay for COVID vaccines

The US government is planning to stop paying for COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, and shift the bill onto the health care industry and eventually the consumer-possibly making it one of the first countries to end the practice of giving out coronavirus vaccines for free.

The move comes a few days after White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Dr Ashish Jha confirmed on August 16 that the Biden Administration had taken steps to get past the crisis phase of the pandemic and stop buying vaccines, treatments, and tests as early as fall, according to Fortune.

"We've known at some point we'd need to move over into the commercial market, and we’re approaching that time now," said Dawn O’Connell, assistant secretary at HHS for preparedness and response.

As COVID cases drop and the pandemic response funding runs short, the US is determined to privatize COVID-19 treatment by the end of the year.

The move to shift payments for COVID-19 drugs to the commercial market may still take months.