Congress Holds Hearing on Vaccine Accessibility

Despite vaccines now being widely available, accessibility issues remain. A grim reminder of these issues is that the US just last week surpassed the dubious milestone of 600,000 deaths from COVID-19. To keep our members abreast of the policy discussions on this important topic, we share an update from Politico Pulse below.

“HOUSE SUBCOMMITTEE HOLDS HEARING ON VACCINE BILLS — The Energy and Commerce subcommittee on health [convened] to discuss a dozen bills pertaining to vaccine equity and access, from legislation aimed at maternal vaccinations against a range of disease to broad measures that would boost nursing home vaccination efforts and transportation to vaccination sites.

Witnesses before the committee include biotech lobby BIO’s Phyllis Arthur and American Academy of Pediatrics doctor Yvonne Maldonado, plus immunization advocates Rebecca Coyle and Lijen Tan.”

Additional reading: Members who follow COVID-19 vaccination news might also be interested in two Kaiser Family Foundation resources:

• An analysis profiling people who remain unvaccinated
• An article examining inequities in vaccine access